i I 



THE GREAT LAKES SERIES 

Lake Huron and the Country 
of the Algonqums 

By 

Edward Payson Morton Ph.D. 




CHICAGO 

AINSWORTH & COMPANY 



The Great Lake;; Series comprises, in the narrative of a continuouj 
journey: 

The Mohawk Valley and Lake Ontario. 
Lake Erie and the Story of Commodore Perry. 
Lake Huron and the Country of the Algonquins. 
Lake Michigan and the French Explorers. 









COPYKIGHT, 1913, BY 

AINSWORTH & COMPANY 



The publishers desire to e>y>r£s4 their appreciation for the use of 
illustrations, to the Detroit Board e£ [Commerce, the White Star Line, the 
Anchor Line, the Northern Michigan Transportation Company, the D. & C. 
Line, the Michigan Central, and the Grand Trunk. 

Proofs of the chapters relating to Michigan have been submitted to 
Dr. George N. Fuller, sometime Townsend Scholar in history in Harvard 
University and Assistant in history in the University of Michigan. 



#^ 



©CI.A:]515G9 



INTRODUCTION 

The autlior and the publishers of the Great Lakes 
Series feel that it is proper for them to set forth briefly 
the principles which have guided them in preparing these 
supplementary readers. 

Though we realize that our work needs to be inter- 
esting, we do not wish it to be merely entertaining. These 
readers are school books and are not intended as a recrea- 
tion for idle hours. Therefore we have been careful 
not to give too much space to stories of battles and 
skirmishes or to picturesque Indian legends. Because 
the reading lesson is too often but slightly related to the 
rest of the curriculum, we have tried to supplement the 
work in other studies by laying stress upon the more 
obvious relations between geography, history and com- 
merce. Exploration and trade in America have both 
romantic and practical aspects, and one or the other of 
these is sure to appeal to wideawake children. The 
scenes visited in these books offer abundant material of 
both kinds — the chief difficulty has been to select. 

In deciding upon the story form, as a convenient 
thread upon which to string what we wish to tell, we 
have tried to steer clear of tw^o temptations. We do not 
intend that these stories shall be guide-books ; therefore 
we have been sparing of mere dates and figures. Also, 
we do not wish to make James and Carrie a pair of pre- 
cocious little prigs, escorted by a pedant. Therefore we 



have tried to make the characters talk like normal htmian 
beings, in language that is simple and colloquial and at 
the same time free from slang and sins of grammar — 
such English, in short, as may reasonably be aspired to 
by those who wish to express themselves simply and 
clearly, without affectation either of bookish precision 
or of slovenly carelessness. 

Some knowledge of history has been assumed: for 
example, that the Revolutionary War was the struggle 
of the American colonies for independence from Great 
Britain. Nothing has been merely alluded to which 
would demand lengthy or involved explanation; but it 
has been thought worth while to touch upon a few mat- 
ters which are not fully explained, in order to stimulate 
that legitimate curiosity which is a chief source of 
growth in knowledge. 

In accordance with this notion, the Questions, it will 
be observed, are hardly at all a catechism on the bare 
text. They are intended to send the pupils to their 
geographies, to the school dictionary, and to the common 
sources of information with which they should be be- 
ginning to grow^ familiar. Questions which can be an- 
swered by yes or no have been avoided ; they are all 
designed to require a reasonable amount of attention and 
thought about the matter in hand. The habit of observ- 
ing accurately and thinking clearly can hardly be begun 
too soon. 



THIi CITY or THE STRAITS 




"Well," said Major Woods, as he rIciJYOF DETROIT 
joined his wife and their nephew and 
niece in the dining-room of the hotel 
at Detroit, **I have solved the prob- 
lem of what we ought to do this 
afternoon." 

"Uncle Jack!" said Carrie, as the j ^MicmoAisj 

Major stopped talking and devoted 

himself to his soup, "don't you see we are all just wait- 
ing to hear what you found out?" 

"Oh, you are? I should think you'd get enough of 
sightseeing. Here you've kept your Aunt Lucy and me 
on the jump for over two weeks, and \'ou show no sign 
of being ready to stop." 

"But, Uncle Jack, we like sightseeing, don't vou un- 
derstand ?" 

"I should think you did! If I get through this alive, 
I'll never again offer to escort two youngsters who don't 
know when to stop. You're absolutely in-de-fat-i-ga-ble, 
that's what you are ! l>ut — " and his tone changed from 
banter to enthusiasm, "my good friend Captain Erskine, 
who really suggested to me that I ought to bring you 
back to Chicago by this roundabout w^ay, is coming for 
us with his touring car, and he promises not only to show 
us Detroit, but to answer all your (piestions. We're to be 
readv at two o'clock." 



« LAKE IILKUX AND THE 

"Won't that be nice!" said Carrie. ''Uncle, I don't 
believe I ever had so much fun before, and really I'm 
learning- almost as much as I do in school." 

"Uncle Jack," asked James, "what does 'Detroit' 
mean? Is it an Indian word?" 

"Oh, no, it is French," answered Major Woods. "The 
river was called 'le detroit/ that is, 'the strait,' long be- 
fore the French made a settlement here. You see, when 
people call Detroit 'the City of the Straits,' they are only 
translating its name into English." 

While Carrie and her Aunt Lucy go to their rooms 
to get their wraps, let us remind our readers that James 
and Carrie Woods, aged respectively fifteen and twelve, 
had gone from Chicago to visit their uncle and aunt in 
Montreal. Major Woods, seeing their interest in United 
States history, had undertaken to bring them back to 
Chicago by way of the Mohawk Valley and the Great 
Lakes. The first week they spent between Lake George 
and Buffalo, and the second week on and around Lake 
Erie. Now, at the beginning of the third week they are 
starting to see Lake Huron, and expect to spend a fourth 
week on Lake Michigan. 

THE COMING OF THE FRENCH 

Just at two o'clock. Captain Erskine drove up, and as 
soon as the introductions were over, helped his guests 
into the car, and started ofif. 

"Detroit used to be thoroughly French," said Captain 
Erskine, as the car started out Woodward Avenue, "but 
in the last fifty years its growth has led to the disappear- 



COUNTRY OF THE AUiONOUINS ^ 

ance of most of its old landmarks, until now, aside from 
some of its old families, the chief tokens of its origin are 
in the names of streets and places." 

"Detroit is like St. Louis in that," observed Major 
Woods. 

"When did the French come here, Captain Krskine?" 
asked James. "Weren't La Salle and Hennepin the first 
white men to see this place?" 

"Almost, but not quite. Dollier and Galinee, who had 
left La Salle, were along- here in the spring of 1670, and 
La Salle, with Henry de Tonty — Tonty of the Iron 
Hand,' they called him, because he had lost one hand and 
wore an iron one — and Father Hennepin, came up the 
river on the 'Grififon' on August 12th, 1679. There was 
an old Indian village here then, and the Indians were 
astonished to see what to them was so huge a vessel go 
up stream without oars or paddles. Most of them, too, 
had never heard a cannon, and its roar amazed them be- 
yond measure. 

"In 1686, Du Luth, for whom Duluth is named, was 
ordered to build a fort on the Detroit. He chose a site 
at or near where F^ort Gratiot is now, at the entrance to 
the lake just north of Port Huron, and built F'ort St. 
Joseph. But this fort was abandoned in 1688, and there 
was no French settlement here until Antoine de la Mothe, 
Sieur de Cadillac, who was Governor of Michilimackinac, 
persuaded the authorities at Quebec to let him bring set- 
tlers and a garrison to the straits. When he finally got 
permission, he had to come by way of the Ottawa River 
and Lake Nipissing to Georgian Bay — " 



lU LAKE HURON AND THE 

"Why, that's the way Champlain came to the lakes 
first, wasn't it?" exclaimed Carrie. 

"Yes," answered Major Woods, "and when we get 
over into the Georgian Bay, we'll learn something about 
the missionaries who followed him." 

"Well," continued Captain Erskine, "Cadillac reached 
here on the 24th of July, 1701, and built a stockade which 
he called Fort Ponchartrain, in honor of the governor 
of New France. (Jf course, that was almost a century 
after Champlain first saw Lake Huron, but even then, 
Detroit is fifty years older than Erie and Buffalo, and 
nearly a hundred years older than Cleveland and Toledo." 

"I suppose," said Major Woods, "that the French had 
no idea that in this region there would grow up great 
states and busy cities. If they had had eyes for anything 
but the fur trade, they might have taken more pains to 
colonize the country. Aside from Montreal and Quebec, 
Detroit was almost the only place to which they brought 
settlers." 

"That is quite true,'' answered Captain Erskine. 
"Cadillac, however, seems to have been more of a colo- 
nizer than an explorer. And he knew how to advertise, 
too! Not long ago I found a copy of a letter which he 
wrote to a friend in October, 1701. He sets forth the 
charms of the region in language that would do credit 
even to a twentieth century promoter. Among other things 
he writes that Tts borders are so many vast prairies, and 
the freshness of the beautiful waters keeps its banks 
always green. The prairies are bordered by long and 
broad rows of fruit trees which have never felt the 



COUNTRY OK THE ALGONQUINS 11 

careful liand of the vigilant i^ardener. Here, also, or- 
chards, young and old, soften and bend their branches, 
under the weight and quantity of their fruit, toward the 
mother earth which has produced them. It is in this 
land, so fertile, that the ambitious vine, which has never 
wept under the knife .of the vine-dresser, builds a thick- 
roof with its lar.^e leaves and heavy clusters, weighing 
down the top of the tree which receives it, and often 
stiHing it with its embrace. 

" 'lender these broad walks one sees assembled by 
hundreds the timid deer and fawn, also the squirrel 
bounding in his eagerness to collect the apples and plums 
with which the earth is covered. Here the cautious tur- 
key calls and conducts her numerous brood to gather the 
grapes. . . . Golden pheasants, the quail, the partridge, 
woodcock, and numerous doves swarm in the woods. . . . 
The hand of the pitiless reaper has never mown the lux- 
uriant grass upon which fatten woolly buffalos, of mag- 
nificent size and proportion.' Doesn't that sound like a 
land of plenty?" 

"It does, indeed!'' answered Major-Woods, "but how 
it has changed ! You don't see any of those things here 
now." 

*'No, but they were to be found for over a hundred 
years. The same book in which I found Cadillac's letter 
reports that wild pigeons were seen here in 1824, deer in 
1834, and wild turkeys as late as 1850. 

''With all that wonderful growth of fruits of all 
kinds, it is natural, perhaps, that Detroit should have to- 
day a firm which is said to sell more seeds than anv other 



12 LAKE HURON AND THE 

in the world. For over a hundred years, however, the 
pride of Detroit centered in her wonderful pear trees, of 
enormous size, and so old that some people maintained 
that they were here when the French first came. The 
probabilities are, however, that French settlers brought 
seeds or young trees with them about the middle of the 
eighteenth century." 

''Shall we see any of them?" asked Carrie. 

*'No, I am sorry to say they are all gone now. The 
best I can do is to show you a photograph of some of 
them, taken in 1883." 

After they had all exclaimed over the picture, Captain 
Erskine continued: 

"One strange thing, considering how fertile the banks 
of the river were, is that for a century or so it was 
thought that the country back of Detroit to the west and 
north was too swampy and sandy ever to be worth any- 
thing. People did not realize either the value of the 
forests or of the land after it had been cleared." 

A MODERN INDUSTRY 

By this time our party was well out Woodward Ave- 
nue, and as they passed a group of immense buildings, 

''What is that?" asked James. 

"That is one of our big automobile factories. You 
know Detroit had the first one, and has never lost the 
lead." 

"How many has Detroit now?" asked Major Woods. 

"Fm not sure, but I think there are over a hundred 
firms which do nothing but make autos or automobile 



fpmm 




MWM 


^ml 






^^^^M*^^ 



'■^^-». 










Olu Plak Trees at Detkoit. Photographed in 1883 



14 LAKE HURON AND THE 

parts. I know that they have over 60,000 employees, 
and that within twenty-five years the making of auto- 
mobiles has become Detroit's chief industry." 

"Uncle Jack," said James, ''is always telling us why 
certain things are made at some special place. Captain 
Erskine, why is Detroit the center of the automobile 
business ?" 

'The very first reason was perhaps an accident. 
Henry Ford, the first American to develop a successful 
automobile, lived in Detroit. But I don't think it was 
chance that brought R. E. Olds from Lansing to build 
his automobile factory here. I imagine that what brought 
Olds was that Detroit, because it is between two great 
lakes and near the middle of a long stretch of waterways 
suitable for small craft, had developed a great business 
in marine gasoline engines. You know it was really the 
gas-engine that made the automobile possible, and it was 
a great advantage for an automobile manufacturer to be 
where he could get not only good gas-engines, but work- 
men who were expert in making and in running them. 

"That was the chief reason, I think, though a few 
other things contributed. Detroit has for years been an 
important center of the carriage trade, and workmen who 
could make wheels and bodies for carriages could also 
make them for automobiles. Then, too, Detroit has im- 
portant industries which make malleable iron, pressed 
steel, springs, and aluminum castings. Doubtless all these 
have grown because of the demand created by auto- 
mobiles, but the existence of these industries first drew 
the automobile builders to Detroit. 



COLiNTKY OF TIIP: ALGONOUINS 15 

"Another tliini^, of course, that had a oreat deal 
to do with the growth of the automobile industry is the 
wonderful advertising that has been done. No other 
business has ever been more thoroughly or skilfully 
advertised. In fact, the advertising has been almost as 
wonderful as the machine it tells about." 

"Oh, what a pretty grove !" exclaimed Carrie, as they 
came into a park. "What place is this?" 

"This is Palmer Park, named for Thomas Witherell 
Palmer, one of Michigan's most distinguished sons. Ex- 
cept for the paths which have been cut through it, that 
stretch of forest back there has been untouched, so that 
we have, close to a great city, a bit of woodland which 
gives a very fair idea of how this whole region looked 
when the French first came here. 

"This cabin," continued Captain Erskine, "was Sen- 
ator Palmer's early home, and its rooms are filled with 
an unusually fine collection of rag carpets, andirons, 
squirrel-rifies, and scores of other relics of colonial days. 
We'll have time to go in and take a peep at them, if 
you wish." 

"Now," said Captain Erskine, when they were a-^^ain 
in the car, "as we go back to the city we'll turn off on 
Hancock Avenue and see the big Central High School. 
It's not only our biggest school building, but is beloved 
by thousands of Detroiters who have graduated from it. 

"You know," he continued, as they drove slowly 1)\ 
it, "we are very proud of our schools here." 

"You may well be," said Mrs. Woods, "if this is a 
fair specimen. How big is this building, anyway?" 



16 



LAKE lURON AND THL: 



"I don't know its exact dimensions, but it has seventy- 
five teachers and about three thousand pupils. It's one 
of the largest high schools in the country." 

As they turned again into Woodward Avenue, Cap- 
tain Erskine told the chauffeur to take them east on Jef- 
ferson Avenue out 
to Gladwin Park. 

''Detroit," he be- 
gan, "has been the 
scene of a great 
deal of fighting. 
When the French 
first came, some of 
the Indians did not 
look with much 
favor on the white 
man's building a 
stockade which, his 
red brothers were 
not free to enter at 
any time, so in 
1706 the Ottawas 

besieged the fort Cicntral high School 

for a few days. Again in 1712 the Fox Indians be- 
sieged and partly burned tlie place. Then there was 
peace until 1746, when some northern Indians attacked 
the fort. This time it was defended by Pontiac, the 
very chief who within twenty years was to put it in 
its greatest danger. The next year there was a plot 
to massacre the garrison, but it was discovered in time 




COUNTRY Ol- Till': ALGONOUINS 17 

and forestalled. I.ate in November, 1760, after the 
French had given up Canada, the Uritish took possession 
of Detroit." 

PONTLIC AND GLADWIN 

"'J'his," said Captain Erskine, as they came to a pleas- 
ant park with a picturesque group of buildings, ''is the 
old Waterworks Park, now called Gladwin Park, in honor 
of the man who played so great a part in defeating Pon- 
tiac's plans. The attempt of Pontiac to seize the fort 
and its garrison in 1763 w^as, as you doubtless know, the 
most dramatic event in all the history of Detroit." 

"You remember, children," said Major Woods, "that 
we heard tales of Pontiac last week when we were down 
in Ohio." 

''The staging of the scene could hardly have been 
better," continued Captain Erskine, "if it had been done 
to order. Major Gladwin and his garrison were "English, 
and the Indians through many years had been taught to 
look upon the French as their friends. The French had 
taken easily to the life of the woods, and many of them 
had married squaws and lived among the Indians. The 
English, on the contrary, had been less inclined to meet 
the Indians on their own terms, but were overbearing 
and generally superior. [Men like Sir William Johnson 
and Cooper's TTawkeye' were exceptions among the Eng- 
lish. Consecpiently when Pontiac, the Ottawa chieftain, 
sought to stir u]) the Indians to drive out the English- 
men, he found ready listeners and at last brought about 



18 LAKE HURON AND THE 

his great conspiracy. His plan was to attack all of the 
frontier forts at about the same time." 

"Yes," said Major Woods, "we have already learned 
how Pontiac succeeded at Erie and at old Fort Sandoski, 
and before the week is over we'll find out how he cap 
tured the old fort at Mackinaw City. But go on, please.'' 

"Pontiac's plan for taking Detroit," Captain Erskine 
resumed, "was made with all an Indian's treacherous 
craft. His braves were to cut short the barrels of their 
guns so that they could hide them under their blankets. 
Then Pontiac was to demand of Major Gladwin a great 
council in the fort. He was to make a long speech in 
favor of peace, and was to offer Major Gladwin a belt 
of wampum as proof of the friendliness of the Indians. 
But — and here comes in the real Indian touch of treach- 
ery — as he held out the belt to Major Gladwin, he was 
to reverse it, and at that signal his warriors were to 
throw back their blankets, seize their weapons, and at- 
tack the garrison." 

"My! that was a trick!" said James. 

"Please go on," said Carrie. "I want to know how 
it came out." 

"Fortunately, Major Gladwin" had been warned. 
There are various accounts of how he was told. Accord- 
ing to one, a Madame St. Aubin saw the Indians filing 
off the barrels of their guns, and reported the matter. 
According to another account, an Ottawa chief named 
Mohigan exposed the plot to Gladwin. Still another 
version is that William Tucker, a soldier of the garrison, 
who had been captured and adopted by the Indians in 



fOl'XTKV OF THK AIAIONOIINS 19 

his bo\hood, was told hy his Indian sister, and carried 
the story to Gladwin. According to a fourth story. 
Catharine, an Ojibwa}- i^irl, who w^as fond of Gladwin, 
came to his quarters with a pair of moccasins .she had 
made for him, and when he gave her a skin of which to 
make him another pair, did not want to take it, because 
she might not be able to bring him the moccasins. Fi- 
nally he is said to have ciuestioned her until he found out 
all she knew. It is said, too, that Pontiac found out that 
she had betrayed him, and with his own hands gave her 
a whipping. 

"Now, whichever one of these accounts is true — and 
the story of Catharine is the only one that sounds like 
fiction — 'Gladwin was warned in time, and undertook to 
match trick with trick. 

THE ORE. IT COUNCIL 

"When l?ontiac asked for a great council (iladwin 
consented, and named the 6th of May, 1763. On that 
morning, therefore, the Indians came, and by noon sixty 
warriors had gathered at the council house, each with his 
gun hidden under his blanket. But Pontiac was sur- 
prised, alarmed, and indignant to find all the soldiers 
under arms, and the cannon mounted and loaded. Pon- 
tiac protested against this show of unfriendliness, but 
Major Gladwin explained that it was done in their honor. 
When Major Gladwin had taken his seat, surrounded by 
his officers, Pontiac stood forth and began a long speech, 
giving the various reasons why the Indians and the Eng- 
lish should be friends. At last he stretched out his hand 



20 LAKE HURON AND THE 

to give the belt of wampum to Major Gladwin, and as he 
made a slight motion to turn the belt, Major Gladwin put 
his hand to his head — a signal which his men understood, 
for they instantly grounded arms with a great crash, and 
the roll of drums sounded through the fort. Pontiac 
hesitated a second, decided not to reverse the belt, and 
finished his speech rather abruptly. After Gladwin had 
taken the belt, he leaned forward, thrust aside Pontiac's 
blanket, thus revealing his hidden weapons, and sternly 
rebuked him for his attempted treachery. 

"Pontiac and his warriors, angry but helpless, stalked 
out of the fort, and as soon as they were a safe distance 
away, murdered a woman who had staid in her cabin 
outside of the fort, and then turned to attack the garri- 
son. 

"From that time until the end of June the Indians 
kept the little garrison closely besieged. On June 30th, 
reinforcements with supplies managed to break through 
the lines of Indians, but Pontiac did not relax his efforts. 
On July 10th the Indians tried to burn two English ves- 
sels in the river by sending fire-rafts floating down upon 
them, but the English were on guard and got their boats 
out of the way. The last of July, twenty-two barges 
made their way up the river with more men and sup- 
plies, but even then the Indians kept up their siege 
through August and September, until finally on October 
12th, they agreed to a truce which really meant victory 
for the garrison." 

"Was that the Fort Wayne that we passed as we came 
up the river?" asked James. 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 



21 



"Oh, no. The fort which Pontiac besieged was on the 
site of the original Fort Ponchartrain, rebuilt and en- 
larged four or five times. Fort Wayne, which is over 
three miles down the river from Fort Detroit, wasn't 
built until 1851, nearly a hundred years later. In 1778 





rJf-^^'»/^.- *<=>-- 



% 









Detroit tn 1796 



the English abandoned Fort Detroit and built a new one 
on the hill, which they called Fort Lernoult. That was 
the fort which General Hull surrendered to the British 
in August, 1812. After holding it a little over a year, 
the British withdrew, and when the Americans marched 
in a day or so later, they renamed it Fort Shelby, in 
honor of the governor of Kentucky, whose troops had 
been such a help to General Harrison. 

*Tf you'll count up, you'll see that Detroit has changed 
its flag five times. First the French held it, then the 
l^ngiish, then the Americans, then the English again, and 



22 LAKE HURON AND THE 

finally the Americans. No other place in the country, I 
think, has had quite that experience." 

By the time Captain Erskine had finished his story of 
Pontiac's siege, it was after five o'clock, so he took them 
back to the hotel and staid to dinner with them. When 
they were through, they went up to the balcony, where 
Captain Erskine showed them two old pictures of Detroit, 
one painted in 1796, the other in 1820. They were all 
looking at them with great interest when Carrie ex- 
claimed : 

"Why, that must be the 'Walk-in-the- Water.' " 

'*I believe it is," answered James, 'T think I can make 
out the name." 

"James," said Major W^oods, "isn't there some way by 
which you can be sure about it?" 
p "If I had a magnifying glass, perhaps I could tell." 

"No, not that way." 

"Oh, I see," cried Carrie, "you can tell by the date. 
This picture was made in 1820, and the 'Walk-in-the- 
Water' was the only steamer on the upper lakes then. 
Isn't that right, E^ncle?" 

"Yes, you have it. Captain Erskine, isn't there a pic- 
ture of the first railway train in this part of the world, to 
put alongside of this one of the first steamboat?" 

"I think perhaps there is. Yes, here's one, and I re- 
member seeing in the lobby of a hotel at Monroe an old 
timetable of this same road, which is now a part of the 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern." 

"What a funny locomotive!'' said James. "It looks 
like a kitchen stove on wheels, teakettle and all." 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 



23 



"I think the coach is funnier," said Carrie. "It looks 
a little like a church and a little like a birdhouse." 

"What does 'E. & K.' stand for, Captain Erskine?" 
asked James. 

"Erie and Kalamazoo. The engine, you can see, is 
named the 'Adrian No. 1,' and it was made by the Bald- 




I'^IRST LOCOMOTIVK AND pASSENGER CaR IN THE WkST 

wins in Philadelphia, taken to the lake — I don't know 
whether over the mountains or by way of New York and 
Buffalo. At any rate, it was brought to Toledo by boat. 
The road — that was in 1837 — was only ZZ miles long, and 
ran from Toledo to Adrian, so the engine was named 
for the western terminus. 

"By the way, this picture of the 'Walk-in-the-Water' 
reminds me that the first vessel on Lake Erie to fly the 
United States flag was the sloop 'Detroit,' which the gov- 
ernment bought from the Northwest Fur Cornpany." 



24 



LAKE HURON AND THE 



"Now, I must go. I hope you'll have pleasant weather 
this week, for you are going to see some very interesting 
country. When you come this way again, you must be 
sure to let me know." 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 

Henry de Tonty's father, Lorenzo, devised in 1653 the system 
of life insurance known as tontine. 

For an account of the "Walk-in-the-Water" see "Lake Erie 
and the Story of Commodore Perry." 

Tell in your own words the story of Pontiac's attempt to cap- 
ture Detroit. 

Some of the proper names in this chapter are pronounced as 
follows : 

Hen' ne pin Ponchartrain (pon shar tran') 

Galinee (gal i na') Dollier (dol ya') 

Antoine de la Mothe (an twon' de la mot') 
Michilimackinac (mTsh T li mak' i naw) 
Champlain (sham plan') Gratiot (grash' T ot) 
Spell, pronounce, and explain : 



indefatigable 

introductions 

prairies 

magnificent 

contributed 

massacre 

besieged 



enthusiasm 

disappearance 

ambitious 

probabihties 

malleable 

conspiracy 

abandoned 



respectively 

landmarks 

luxuriant 

automobile 

aluminum 

treacherous 

experience 



ox L.IK I- SAINT CLAIR 



We 



chil 




dren," said Major 
Woods, when he 
had finished open- 
uv^ the pile of let- 
ters h e s i d e his 
plate, "eat a good 
big breakfast, for 
we want to make 
the most of this 
fine weather. I 
have a letter here 
from Mr. M. L. 
Powell—" 

"Oh!" inter- 
rupted Carrie, 
''Margie's father?" 

"Yes, and he 
writes that he'll have his steam yacht 'Tamarack" meet 
us at Harbor Beach, though he himself can't join us till 
we get to Alpena." 

"Will Margie be with him?" 

"No ; Margie, he says, is in a summer camp up on 
the Maine coast, not far from Mt. Desert. That reminds 
me — did you know that Mt. Desert used to belong lo 
Cadillac?" 

"Whv, T didn't know that!" said Mrs. Woods. 



20 LAKE HURON AND THE 

"Yes, Cadillac had a big grant of land at Mt. Desert, 
and went there after he left Detroit. Now, we'd better 
be moving along, for we don't want to miss the boat." 

Inside of an hour they were all seated near the bow 
on the upper deck of the Tashmoo' and on their way up 
the river, past a wooded island with lagoons and canals 
crowded with canoes. 

''That's Belle Isle Park," said Major Woods, in an- 
swer to Carrie's question. "The city fathers were shrewd 
enough to buy it nearly forty years ago, and as you can 
see they've made a beautiful park of it." 

"What's that island over there. Uncle?'' asked James, 
as the steamer passed the lighthouse at the head of Belle 
Isle. 

"That's Peche Island. The French named it Isle dc 
la Peche, that is, Tsle of Fishes,' because the fishing 
there was so good, but the English who camj afterwards 
corrupted it into Peach Island. For a good many years 
it was Pontiac's summer home." 

"Oh, what a pretty lighthouse!" said Carrie. "We 
haven't seen one just like that." 

"That is Windmill Point," said her uncle, "so named 
because the first windmill in Detroit was built there to 
grind the corn and wheat of the settlers. The lighthouse 
marks the head of the Detroit River, so now we are on 
Lake St. Clair." 

"Why is it called Lake St. Clair?" asked James. 

"Because when La Salle and his companions came this 
way on the 'Griffon,' they crossed this lake on August 
12th, which was Ste. Claire's Day. The French had a 



COUNTRY OF THE ALC.ONQUINS 



27 



great way of naming" ]3laces for tlie saint on whose day 
they first saw them." 

"Don't you rememl)er, Jim," said Carrie, "how poor 
Father Jogues named Lake George the Lac du St. 
Sacrement ?" 

"Yes," answered James, "but Lm glad they ke])t so 
many Indian names. I think they're both ])rettier and 
more ap])ropriate." 

"You are right about that, James," said Major 
Woods. "The Indian names either recall the tribes who 




The Excursion Steamer "Tasiimoo" 

lived in a region, or they have a meaning which makes 
them appropriate. For instance, Yosemite means 'the 
\ 'alley of the Grizzly Bear,' and Lake Erie, as vou re- 
member, was named for a tribe. Niagara, too, meant 
'Thunder of the Waters.' " 

"Oh, Carrie," cried James, "there's something we 
haven't seen before — a lightship. Why didn't thev build 
a lighthouse, L^ncle?'' 



28 LAKE HURON AND THE 

"Probably because the depth of the water or the char- 
acter of the bottom makes the building of a lighthouse 
either impossible or too costly. Then, too, this light is 
meant, I suppose, not to warn vessels off a ledge of rock, 
but to mark the channel, and the channel probably shifts 
more or less, so that the light needs to be moved from 
time to time. 

'*Now we are coming to a place, right out in the lake, 
where the government has had to dredge a channel and 
mark its course." 

"What a lot of boats, Uncle Jack !'' said Carrie pres- 
ently, as they started up the channel. 'Tt looks like a 
procession. Why, they are almost as thick as automobiles 
on the Midway at home." 

"Yes," answered the ]\Iajor, "there are lots of them. 
You must remember that all the water traffic from Lake 
Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron has to pass 
through this narrow channel to get to Lake Erie, and 
most of the boats are in a hurry because they cannot 
run the year round, but must take their cargoes between 
the middle of April and the first of December. They 
don't even stop at Detroit for mail or orders, but the 
government keeps a fast launch to deliver mail and 
telegrams to them as they pass up or down the river." 

"Oh, Jim !" said Carrie, "look at those houses all built 
right out over the water. Wouldn't it be fun to live 
there and row your boat right up to the door! What 
do they call this. Uncle Jack?" 

"These are the St. Clair Flats. As you can see, there 
are scores and hundreds of summer cottages here, not 



COUXTKY (JF TIJK ALGONQUINS 29 

great castles such as you saw in the Thousand Islands, 
but places of moderate size, where people with modest 
incomes can afford to bring their families to spend their 
summer on the water. You can put this with what you 
have seen in other places. The Flats here do not attract 
because of wonderful scenery, like Niagara, or the moun- 
tains, or even Mackinac. It is merely a comfortable, 
safe place in which people can live out-of-doors and get 
away from the dust and dirt and heat of the big cities. 
It's another of the good signs of the times, I think, that 
people want more and more to get out into the open for 
at least a part of the year.'' 

\Mien they had left Algonac behind and were there- 
fore well started up the St. Clair River, James and Car- 
rie amused themselves by looking eagerly ahead to see 
who would be the first to pick out the 'ranges' by which 
the steamer kept to a safe course. They had had some 
practice at it the week before when they came up from 
Toledo to Detroit, and it was great fun to see how often 
they could tell beforehand when the steamer would turn 
and in what direction. 

A MODERN SALT BLOCK 

"Uncle Jack, what is that big factory there?'' asked 
James, pointing to a group of buildings covering several 
acres near St. Clair. 

''That is one of the big 'salt-blocks.' This whole re- 
gion, from east of Detroit clear over beyond Saginaw 
and Bay City, is underlaid, a couple of thousand feet 



30 LAKE HURON AND THE 

down by a layer of solid salt two or three hundred feet 
thick, and most of the salt used in the middle west comes 
from this territory." 

"Do they mine it the way they do coal?" 

"There are one or two mines, but for the most part 
they get the salt out of the ground in a very ingenious 
way. They bore a well — you can see some of the der- 
ricks, can't you? — and then they put down a six-and-a- 
quarter inch pipe with another one inside of it only four 
and a half inches in diameter. They force fresh water 
down the outside pipe, and as it dissolves the salt, the 
brine is pumped up through the inner pipe. Then this 
brine, which is collected in great tanks, is driven under 
heavy pressure through a number of heaters until it is 
ever so much above the boiling point. This great heat 
precipitates the lime — " 

"What does 'precipitate' mean. Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"It means that the lime separates from the salt and 
settles to the bottom of the tank. Don't you remember 
how, out at your grandmother's, the teakettle in which 
she boils the hard water from the well is all lined with a 
hard white crust? Well, in that case the heat has pre- 
cipitated the lime in the water just as it does here in the 
brine. 

"Then the brine, thus freed from its lime, is pumped 
into a filter, which strains out the other impurities. 
From the filter it goes into an evaporator where the salt 
forms in verv fine crystals. This salt is taken for table 
use, and the rest of the brine is turned into another kind 
of evaporator, called a 'grainer,' where the salt forms 



C(.)UNTK\' OF Till-: AL(.iONni INS 31 

on the surface in thin flakes. This flaky salt is the kind 
that is used in making- butter and cheese, because the 
thin, soft flakes dissolve more rapidly and completely 
than the hard crystals. 

"Of course, when the salt is first taken out of the 
evaporators, it is very wet. One way of drying it is to 
spread it out in the open air in great heaps, which are 
stirred up every few hours. This method of drying, 
however, not only takes several days, but allows the salt 
to take up some impurities, because the open air is likely 
to be both dirty and dusty. So, in this plant, the salt 
is first put into tall strainers of very fine netting. These 
strainers are then revolved so rapidly that most of the 
water is driven out of the salt by centrifugal force. Then 
it is carried slowly through great drums against a cur- 
rent of air which has been cleaned and heated, so that 
when it comes out of the drums it is perfectly dry. Then 
the dry salt is shaken through a series of sifters which 
grade it according to the fineness of the grains. From 
the sifters the salt runs through spouts to the packing- 
rooms, where ingenious machines automatically weigh it 
and pack it in bags, boxes, and barrels all ready for the 
market." 

'*My ! what a lot of processes !" said Carrie. 

'*Yes, there are a good many, but they are all simple. 
The salt is turned into brine so that it can be ])umped 
out of the wells ; then the brine is heated and evaporated, 
and the salt is sifted and dried. Some of the machinery 
is very ingenious, but all the stages of its manufacture 
are designed to make it pure and keep it clean." 



Z2 LAKE HURON AND THE 

TUNNELING UNDER A RIVER 

At Port Huron they left the 'Tashmoo' and went to 
take a look at the St. Clair tunnel. 

"Why do we come to see this, Uncle Jack?" asked 
James. "It doesn't look so very different from the tun- 
nels under the river at Chicago." 

"It isn't much different from them, James," answered 
the Major, "but it is worth looking at because its con- 
struction, though it turned out to be simple enough, was 
quite an exploit in its day. This tunnel was built in 
1889 and 1890, and some of the devices they used in 
building it were new and untried. Some years before 
there had been an attempt made at Detroit, but the water 
and the sand together had been too much for them. 
Here they were fortunate, because borings showed them 
that under the sand of the river bottom was a thick bed 
of stiff blue clay. So the engineers dug a deep pit on 
each side of the river, and at the bottom of each pit built 
a great round shield, a steel tube a little more than 
twenty-one feet across. These shields were of one-inch 
plates, sharpened on their front edge. Behind each 
shield they set up twenty-four hydraulic rams — " 

"What's a hydraulic ram?" asked Carrie. 

"I don't know that I can explain in detail, but in effect 
it is a device for using water pressure to deliver blows 
like a hammer. With these rams they drove the shields 
forward into the clay a foot or two at a time. Then the 
workmen would dig away the clay, and before the shield 
was driven forward again, and while its sides kept the 



COINTKY OF TIM-: Ai.(;oxnuiNs 33 

clay from crumblins;" in on ihcm, they would set up a sec- 
tion of a great iron tube. These sections were eighteen 
inches wide, and each rin,4' was made of fourteen pieces, 
which weighed about a thousand pounds each, and harl 
Hanges on them so they could be bolted together. Then 
they would drive the shield forward, dig out the clay 
again, and put U]) another ring. 

"Each shield was pushed forward about ten feet a day, 
though once, when they were lucky, the distance was 
nearly twenty-eight feet." 

"How could they tell that the shields would come to- 
gether. Uncle?" 

"Oh, that was where the twenty- four rams were es- 
pecially useful. A surveyor's level was mounted on a 
stone base at the bottom of each pit, and pointed in ex- 
actly the right direction. Then if the\' found the shield 
v>as going ever so little to one side or the other, they 
would use the rams on that side to drive it true again. 
When the shields did meet, after about a year's work, 
they came together exactly." 

"How far down does it go?" asked James. 

"The lowest point, over near the Canadian shore, is 
about a hundred feet below the tracks back here on the 
level. The tunnel was built a good many feet below the 
bottom of the river for a curious reason. They wanted 
to be sure to have enough weight of sand and clay on 
the top of the tube full of air to keep it from rising to 
the surface. You wouhln't think, would \ou, that a tube 
of iron that weighed about 25,000 tons would have any 
tendency to rise? 



34 LAKE HURON AND THE 

"Another interesting thing about the tunnel was that, 
because one end is in Canada and the other end in the 
United States, half the castings were made in one coun- 
try, and half in the other, in order to avoid paying duty." 

''What did they do before they had the tunnel. Uncle 
Jack?" asked Carrie. 

''Oh, they had a car ferry — in a few days you'll see 
a big one, the 'Sainte Marie,' which runs between Macki- 
naw City and St. Ignace — but the current here is always 
swift, and in winter the ice sometimes comes down in 
great packs, and makes a crossing slow and dangerous. 
Now, you see, there is never any delay here because of 
weather." 

IN THE LUMBER COUNTRY 

After a lunch at Port Huron, they caught another 
steamer for Harbor Beach, and were soon well out on 
Lake Huron, with the Michigan shore to the left, and 
to right only the tossing waters as far as they could 
see. A pleasant but uneventful run brought them in 
sight of the lighthouse at Harbor Beach. Even before 
the steamer had passed through between the breakwaters 
into the harbor of refuge, the children made out the 
graceful outline of the 'Tamarack,' with its gleaming 
white hull, polished brass rail, and a gaily striped awning 
stretched over the after-deck. 

"There she is, Jim !" cried Carrie. "She doesn't look 
quite as big as the 'Scud,' does she?'' 

"No, she isn't as high out of the water, but she looks 
as if she'd go just as fast." 



COUNTRY OK THE ALGONQUINS 



35 



The deckhands were still making- the steamer fast to 
the dock when a chunk}', red-faced young man in a blue 
suit jumped lightly aboard, made his way to the upper 
deck, and after looking around a minute came up, caj) in 
liaiid. and asked : 




The l.IC.HT AT llARROR DhALH 

'Isn't this Major Woods?" 

"Yes, I am he." 

"I am Captain Adams of the Tamarack.' Mr. Pow- 
ell directed me to find you here and bring you around to 
Bay City. I have a launch waiting to take you out to the 
Tamarack.' " 

By this time, the gang-plank was down, and Captain 
Adams escorted our party off the boat and across the 
pier to the launch. 



36 LAKE 11 L" RUN AND THE 

"Oh ! isn't this fun !" exclaimed Carrie, as the launch 
came gently around to the gangway, and a white-suited 
sailor held out his hand to help her aboard the yacht. 
As soon as they had been shown their quarters, the chil- 
dren looked over the yacht from the United States flag 
at the stern to the gilded eagle under the bowsprit. 
Meanwhile the 'Tamarack' had left the harbor far be- 
hind and was running a little west of north. Not long 
before they were called in to dinner the yacht veered 
more to the west, and when the children came on deck 
again was passing to the left of a low island. 

"What is that island, Captain Adams?" asked Carrie. 

"That is Charity Island,'' he answered, "and that 
buoy that we are going to pass in a minute marks the 
Charity Island shoal. That next buoy," and he pointed 
to one a little to the right and a mile or two farther up 
the bay, "marks Gravelly Point shoal. From there we 
shall run straight to the light which marks the mouth of 
the Saginaw River." 

"Why are we going to Saginaw, Uncle Jack?" asked 
James, as Major Woods came on deck, lighted a cigar, 
and sat down in front of the wheelhouse to enjoy the 
sunset. 

"Why are we coming to Saginaw ? Because, as it 
happens, I have business there, and because Saginaw and 
Ray City are as good illustrations as you can find of w^hat 
we have been discovering about so many of the places 
we have visited in the last two weeks or so. Can you 
tell what I mean?" 

"Are they big cities?'' 



COUNTRV Ol- TIIK .\LG()N()UINS 37 

"Well, outside of the fcnir j^i-eat ])'\<^ cities we have 
heen in, only Schenectady and i^-ie are larj^er. Sas^inaw 
has over 50,000 and L5a\- City over 45,000." 

"1 know what you mean, then. You are i^oing- to 
explain why these two cities grew up right here." 

"That's just what I want to do. But the story of 
Saginaw^ and l>ay City is not a mere repetition of the 
story of Oswego, or lUifFalo, or Cleveland, or Detroit. 
The conditions here were peculiar, though they illustrate 
the same general principle that we have discovered to be 
true of these other places — ^namely, that cities do not 
grow haphazard, but owe their location and their impor- 
tance to their geography and to the opportunity or neces- 
sity for handling certain commodities. After a while 
we'll go down into the cabin, and see what the map will 
tell us. 

"Captain Adams," continued Major Woods, "what 
are your orders?" 

"Mr. Powell directed me to consult your wishes. He 
cannot leave Alpena until late tomorrow night. Would 
it suit you if we anchored off the mouth of the river for 
tonight? You can get a cool night's sleep out here in the 
bay. Then tomorrow morning after breakfast, I'll take 
you up to Saginaw in the launch, for with it we can 
make better time in the river than with the yacht. We 
can start back after lunch and still reach Alpena in time, 
though you may have to take dinner on board the 'Tam- 
arack.' How does that suit you ?" 

"That will do beautifully, thank you," answered 
Major Woods, "for while T am keeping my appointment 



38 LAKE HURON AND THE 

in Saginaw, you can get an automobile and take Mrs. 
Woods and the children for a drive around Saginaw's 
pretty parks. 

"Now, children, let's go down and have a look at that 
big map of Michigan that I saw on the wall in the cabin." 

A GEOGRAPHY LESSON 

**In the first place," said Major Woods, when they 
were all in the cabin of the 'Tamarack,' "notice where 
the line that marks the 43d parallel of latitude runs 
across the state. See if it goes near any places you 
know." 

"It starts just above Port Huron," said James, "and 
ends just below Grand Haven." 

"Very good. Now, the 43d degree of latitude marks 
roughly the division between the soft wood and the hard 
wood forests of Michigan. Do you know what woods 
are called hard?" 

"Oak and maple are hard woods, aren't they?" 

"Yes, and beech, and cherry, and elm. Now, in 
Michigan there is very little hard wood north of the 43d 
parallel, and very little soft wood south of it. The name 
of one of the southern counties gives you a clue to the 
nature of its forests." 

"Which one?" asked Carrie. "Oh, I see — Oakland." 

"Do you see any well-known city close to the 43d 
parallel ?" 

"Let me see," said James, as he ran his finger along 
the line, "Lapeer, Flint, Corunna, Owosso, St. Johns, 
Ionia — oh, yes. Grand Rapids." 



COUNTRY OF THE AI.GONOUINS 39 

''Grand Rapids, then, is right between the hard wood 
country and the soft wood countrw You could almost 
guess from that what its chief inchistry is. You know 
what it is, don't you ?" 

"Do you mean furniture?" 

"Yes, but we haven't time to discuss Grand Rapids 
now. It is in the western part of the state on the Lake 
Michigan watershed, so perhaps we'll talk about it again 
when we get around on to Lake Michigan next week. 
Now let's see what country the Saginaw River drains. 
In the first place, how long is the Saginaw itself?" 

"Why it seems to run only from the Ray to Sagina\v. 
I should think, from the scale, that it is about twenty or 
twenty-five miles long," answered James. 

"Yes. Now, what rivers flow into it?" 

''One good-sized one runs from the north. That's 
the — my ! what a funny name ! — Tit-ta-ba-was-see. 
That comes from away up north. And there are some 
other rivers that flow into it — the Chippewa and the 
Pine." 

"Yes, the very name of the Pine ought to tell you as 
much as the name of Oakland County did. What other 
rivers do you find?" 

"Well, here's the Shiawassee, which begins away over 
east and runs north to the Saginaw. And the Flint River 
flows into the Shiawassee. There are some smaller 
streams, too." 

"Now, James, where would \ou naturally expect to 
find a city along those rivers ?" . 

"Whv, I should think it would be right at the mouth 



40 LAKE HI- RUN AND THE 

of the Saginaw, on the bay, where Bay City is, instead 
of twenty miles up the river." 

"See if the map doesn't help }ou to find an explana- 
tion. Does it give you any clue to the size of the Sagi- 
naw River as compared with the others?" 

"Yes, sir. If the map is right, the Saginaw must be 
a good deal wider than the others." 

"Assuming that it is both wider and deeper, what 
would you infer?" 

"In that case," said James, after some thought, "I 
should think it would be better for vessels to go up the 
river as far as they could, because that would get them 
into the country, instead of merely to the edge of it." 

"That is just what happened. But suppose we ad- 
journ until tomorrow. The engines have stopped, and 
we must be about ready to drop anchor. Let's take a 
turn on deck, and then we'll be ready for a good night's 
sleep." 

NOTES AXD QUESTIOXS 

F"or an account of the building and voyage of the "Griffon." 
see "Lake Erie and the Story of Commodore Perry." 

Tell in your own words: How salt is made ready for use; 
How the St. Clair tunnel was built. 

Trace on a map the journey from Detroit to the mouth of 
the Saginaw River. What is the scale of your map? How many 
miles to the inch ? How many miles did our party travel ? 

Some of the proper names in this chapter are ])ronounced as 
follows : 

Tit ta hn was' see Shi ;'i was' see 

Chip' pe wa ^'(') st'm' T te 

Schenectady ( skr-n ek' tn dy) Jogues ( zhog) 



Tim SAGINAW VALLEY 

Tn the niorniiii;- everybody was up bright and early, 
and as soon as breakfast was over, the launch was 
brought around and, with Captain Adams at the wheel, 
started up the river i)ast liay City to Saginaw. From 
where the yacht was anchored in the bay to the pier at 
Saginaw, the distance was nearly twenty-five miles. But 
to the children the hour and a half spent on the way 
seemed very short. When they reached Saginaw, ^^lajor 
Woods went at once to keep his appointment, and Cap- 
tain Adams, leaving a sailor in charge of the launch, 
took Mrs. Woods and the two children for a ride into 
the country and through the parks. 

By noon they were all on board the Tamarack' again, 
and sat down to lunch as soon as the yacht was fairly 
under way. When they came on deck once more they 
were nearing Charity Island, and were soon headed 
straight for Thunder Bay and Alpena. 

"Uncle Jack," said James, 'Sve haven't learned yet 
why Saginaw and Bay City have grown so big." 

"That's so," answered Major Woods. 'T hadn't for- 
gotten, but w as only waiting for a convenient time. You 
remember, don't you, that Captain Erskine told us the 
other day that for a long time the country west of De- 
troit was thought to be worthless. The result was that 
for a hundred years after Cadillac founded Detroit, this 
whole region was left to the Indian and the hunter. 
The streams vou were tracing on the ma]) last night 



42 LAKE HURON AND THE 

served very well as highways for the canoes of the In- 
dians and the trappers — as they had doubtless served 
for many generations before the palefaces came. 

"The bad reputation of the district was unfortunately 
confirmed by a survey which was ordered by the govern- 
ment early in the nineteenth century. The surveyors, 
whether from malice or carelessness I do not know, re- 
ported that the whole southern peninsula was either 
swampy or sandy, and would never be fit for anything 
but hunting and fishing. Consequently, for many years 
immigrants for the most part went to the south across 
Indiana and into Illinois and Iowa. Nevertheless, in 
1822, one of the Campaus — who had been early settlers 
at Detroit, and were among its most enterprising citizens 
— came to the head of the Saginaw River and laid out a 
town. The same year the government built a fort and 
established a garrison at Saginaw, and the American Fur 
Company, which John Jacob Astor founded and con- 
trolled, had a post there. After a year the government 
withdrew the troops, and the American Fur Company 
took possession of the fort. 

"The time came, however, when people discovered 
that a great part of the southern peninsula, north of the 
43d degree of latitude, was covered with forests of splen- 
did white pine. Now, although the various streams 
which unite to form the Saginaw River are not navi- 
gable for any distance except for canoes, nevertheless 
these streams afforded sufficient water to float logs down 
to the bay, and therefore made easily accessible an im- 
mense tract of first-rate pine timber. 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONOUINS 43 

"Now, by the middle of last century, the country be- 
tween the Great Lakes and the Ohio was pretty well 
settled, and afforded an enormous market for pine lum- 
ber. And here were almost inexhaustible forests of 
pine at the very edge of this market. The streams which 
would float the logs to the mills, from which transporta- 
tion by water was so easy, meant both cheap production 
and cheap distribution. Wouldn't it have been really 
surprising if thriving towns had not grown up at Sagi- 
naw and Bay City? 

"The lumber business on the Saginaw River began in 
earnest about 1870, and reached its height in 1881 or 
1882. After that it declined until now it is hardly more 
than a tenth of what it was then — though it is still very 
important. Now, you might have expected that, as soon 
as the timberlands had been pretty well cut over and the 
supply of lumber began to lessen, the importance of Sagi- 
naw would decrease. And- that would probably have 
been true if Saginaw had been or had remained depend- 
ent on lumber alone. 

"Fortunately, however, the Saginaw country devel- 
oped a number of other industries — chief among them, 
salt-making. Salt wells had been opened at Saginaw 
and Bay City in the sixties, even before lumbering had 
developed much. The whole region is underlaid with 
salt beds, some of them enormously thick, and some of 
them very near the surface. Then somebody discovered 
that the waste steam from the lumber mills could be used 
in evaporating the salt brine, and to this very day any 
manufacturer who has waste steam can very easily make 



44 LAKE IIURO^" AND THE 

salt as a by-product. The sawmills, too, furnish great 
quantities of waste, which can be utilized in making- 
barrels and boxes, so that salt can be put on the market 
very cheaply. 

"As the supply of lumber began to decrease, the cost 
of production increased. Can you see why that would 
be so, James?" 

"I suppose that at first they cut the trees close to 
the streams, and when they got farther away from them, 
it took more time and labor to get a log to the mill, and 
both the time and the labor cost money." 

"Yes, and at first they cut the best trees from the most 
thickly wooded tracts, and later took smaller trees from 
the poorer tracts. Xow, a state of affairs like that al- 
ways leads to efiforts to economize, both by cutting down 
the cost of production, and by utilizing more of what 
had been waste material. Band saws began to take the 
place of the circular saws. Now, a band saw^ doesn't 
cut as rapidly as a circular saw, and it is more easily 
broken. But the band saw doesn't make as much saw- 
dust as the circular saw, for it makes a thinner cut, and 
will get a good many more boards out of a log. 

"Then, because Saginaw Bay is so situated that it 
makes a very good distributing point, many users of lum- 
ber found it worth while to come to Saginaw and make 
their j^roducts direct from the logs. Manufacturers of 
woodenware, and of dozens of other articles made whollv 
or chiefly of wood, set up their factories along the Sagi- 
naw River, where they could use as much of the waste 
as possible. 



COUNTRY OF THK AI.GONOr I NS 45 

MATCHES AND THlilR BY-riWDUCTS 

"Some of these by-products are very interesting;. The 
match companies, for example, must have for their match 
sticks i)erfectly clear wood, straight-grained and free 
from knots. To make only matches would require them 
to reject many whole logs, and large parts of others. 
As a result, the big match comi)anies make great quanti- 
ties of doors and window-frames, and such things, out 
of lumber which they cannot use for matches." 

"Isn't it funny," said James, "that doors and window- 
frames and sash should be by-products of match-mak- 
ing ! I'd expect it to be just the other way." 

"Whv do they have to have the best wood for matches, 
Uncle Jack?" asked Carrie. 

"Because a good match must be straight-grained and 
whole, so that it won't split or break in two when you 
strike it." 

"How do they make matches, Uncle?" asked James. 

"Always by machinery, and nearly every company 
has its own special machines. The essential thing about 
a good match-making machine is that it shall do perfect 
work and do it as rapidly as possible. I have heard of 
one machine that turns out nearly a hundred and seventy- 
eight million matches a day, all boxed and labeled, and 
ready to ship. That is a good many," he added, as the 
children gasped in astonishment. "Even if you 'assume 
that these matches are packed two hundred in a box, 
there would be nearly nine hundred thousand boxes." 

"Goodness!" said James, "I should think that about 



46 LAKK HURON AND TMLs 

two hiachihes like that would supply everybody iti the 
United States." 

"Oh, no, not by any means. Somebody, who has 
gathered statistics, figures that we use in the United 
States seven hundred billion matches a year. How many 
ciphers would it take to write that out, James ?" 

"Seven hundred billion, did you say? Why, three for 
the hundreds, and three for the thousands, would be six. 
Three for the millions would be nine, and two for the 
billions would be eleven altogether. My ! that makes a 
long row of them !" 

"True, but even then, that means only about twenty 
a day for each of us." 

"I haven't had my share, then," said Carrie, "for I 
haven't used a match since we left Montreal." 

"Oh, well," answered Major Woods, "I suspect that 
I've used your share and more, for I've just wasted ten 
trying to light this cigar out here in the wind." 

"But, Uncle," said James, "how many machines 
would it take to furnish all those matches?" 

"I don't know how many hours that machine worked 
in a day, but I don't suppose it makes that many every 
day. But even if it did, it would keep fourteen machines 
busy nearly all the time. However, that machine is 
merely the one with the highest record." 

"But you haven't told us how they make matches, 
Uncle," said Carrie. 

"Well, sometimes the logs are sawed into blocks the 
length of a match, and the machine shaves ofif strips just 
the thickness of a match, and these strips are chopped 



COUNTRY ()!■ rill': ALCONOUINS 47 

vip into malch sticks. Stniictinics a \o<^ or block is 
steamed or boiled so as to make it cut easily witbout 
splitting or s])lintering'. Tben tbese softened blocks are 
put into a latbe and a sbaving just tbe tbickness of a 
niatcb is peeled ofif tbe block. Tben tbis sbavin«^ is split 
and sawed into niatcb sticks. Tbe wbolc problem, you 
see, is to cut tbe wood into splinters wbicb sball be just 
tbe same lengtb and tbickness, and to do all this so accu- 
rately and rapidly that tbe finished matches will be per- 
fect and at tbe same time so cheap that nobody can af- 
ford to do witbout them. Of course, after the match 
sticks are made, they have to be fed into machines which 
will put the heads on them, and some of the machines 
which do that are very ingenious indeed." 

"Isn't the making of matches one of the 'dangerous 
occupations'?" asked Mrs. Woods. 

"Yes, dangerous because the phosphorus, which in 
some form or other has been used in the tips of all but 
the 'safety matches,' is fairly certain in the long run to 
give the workmen who handle it constantly a disease 
known as 'phossy jaw.' The poison attacks tbe jaw- 
bone, causes great misery, and finally death." 

"Why doesn't everybody use safety matches. Uncle?' 
asked Carrie. • 

"Because safety matches have to be struck on a spe- 
cially prepared surface, and people as a rule prefer 
matches that 'can be struck anywhere.' However, within 
just a few years the chemists have devised tips which do 
not contain any phosphorus. One of the best of these 
tips was patented by the Diamond Match Company — the 



48 LAKE HLRON AND THK 

largest manufacturer of matches in the United States — 
but the directors of the company made the process pubhc, 
because they felt that it was contrary to public policy to 
control or limit the use of a process so essential to the 
health of the workers. There is now, therefore, no good 
reason for making matches by any process which is in- 
jurious to the workmen. 

"Well, well, we have rather got away from what we 
were talkng about — the reason why Saginaw and Bay 
City have so steadily grown. As I was saying, when 
you started me ofif on* matches, the growing scarcity of 
lumber, and its increasing price, brought manufacturers 
to the Saginaw River, where by economy in manufac- 
ture and closer utilization of their raw material — the logs, 
they could keep down the cost of production. So that, 
because of the fact that Saginaw Bay affords easy trans- 
portation to the markets of the middle w^est, the very 
thing which would be expected to make its cities lose in 
importance and population — namely, the decrease in the 
quantity of lumber — actually has increased their im- 
portance. 

BEET SUGAR 

"Another thing has contributed, too. As the forests 
have been cleared oft', settlers have discovered that the 
soil is by no means as barren as the early investigators 
had thought. As a matter of fact, fruits and vegetables 
and farm products do well there. Best of all, someone 
was inspired a few years ago to try growing sugar beets. 
The climate has proved suitable, and the abundant water 



COUNTRY UF Tl I K AI.GON(JUJNS 49 

supi^ly has led to the buildini;- of sugar factories. A 
factory uses about five thousand gallons of water in ex- 
tracting the sugar from a ton of beets, so that a factory 
which slices five hundred tons of l)eets a day needs a 
daily supply of about two and a half million gallons. 
There is a factory at Saginaw which has a capacity of 
a thousand tons of beets a day, and that factory makes 
about fifty or sixty thousand barrels of sugar a year. 

"The raising of sugar beets has a number of advan- 
tages beyond the mere fact that the farmer can get good 
returns per acre. For one thing, the rootlets of the beet 
are almost as remarkable as those of alfalfa in the way 
they penetrate four or five feet below the surface, even 
in hard, stiff soil. This loosens up the soil, and as the 
rootlets die they leave little air channels and also a cer- 
tain amount of material that enriches the soil. Sugar 
beets do not exhaust the ground, as most crops do, but 
actually add to its power to raise other crops. A field 
that has been planted with sugar beets this year will raise 
a bigger crop of corn next year than a field right along- 
side of it which was planted with something else. That 
is one of the by-products, so to speak. Another one is 
that the tops may be used either as food for stock or as 
fertilizer. 

"But that isn't all of the story by any means. At the 
factory, the beets are washed, sliced, ground to a pulp, 
and then put through various ])rocesses to extract the 
sugar, .\fter the sugar has been taken out, there is left 
the pulp and a considerable quantity of molasses. The 
pulp is sometimes fed to stock, and sometimes used for 



50 LAKE HURON AND THE 

fertilizer. The molasses, because it has so many other 
things in it besides sugar and water, is not fit to use as 
syrup. But it has proved to be very valuable in a number 
of ways. Occasionally it is mixed with other foods and 
fed to stock. Sometimes they make denatured alcohol 
from it ; sometimes they make vinegar from it. Two 
of its uses are very odd. They mix it with coaldust and 
press the mixture into briquettes. They have even tried 
the experiment of making paving blocks of it, but it will 
take a long test to see how well these molasses blocks 
stand the wear and tear of service." 

"Well," said James, "I didn't suppose that they made 
any sugar up in this part of the world — except maple 
sugar." 

"I'd like to see some of those paving-stones made of 
molasses," said Carrie. "It sounds just like a fairy story. 
I'd expect to find that the brownstone fronts of the 
houses were made of chocolate, and the barber poles of 
peppermint candy. Wouldn't it be fun, if it were really 
that way, Jim !" 

"Wouldn't it!" echoed James. "But what's that?" he 
added, as a sudden popping and crackling began just 
over their heads. After a look he jumped up, saying: 

"Oh, I know. It's Captain Adams at the wireless. I 
wonder what he's doing." 

"Probably he's telling Mr. Powell we are coming," 
said Major Woods. Presently the crackling and popping 
ceased, and Captain Adams came forward. 

"Major Woods," he said, "Mr. Powell sends word 
that he will meet us at the mouth of the river, and that 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 51 

unless you especially want to go ashore, we will start at 
once for Nottawasaga Ray. If we do that we can easily 
make Collingwood by breakfast time tomorrow." 

'That suits me perfectly," answered Major Woods. 
"Will Mrs. Powell be with him?" 

"I think not, sir. When I left Alpena yesterday, Mrs. 
Powell was still in Chicago." 

Before long, Captain Adams called the children to 
the pilot house and showed them through the glasses a 
bright red buoy, so far in front of them that they could 
barely make it out. 

''We are going almost due north now," he said, "but 
when we get within about two miles south of that buoy, 
we'll turn a little west of northwest, and will have a 
straight course for ten miles right up to the lighthouse 
on the pier at Alpena." 

"How long will it take us to get there, Captain 
Adams?" asked Carrie. 

"We'll turn in about five minutes. So I think you'll 
be shaking hands with ]\Ir. Powell in about forty-five 
minutes. Do you think you can wait that long?" 

True to his prediction, Captain Adams brought the 
'Tamarack' up to the pier at the mouth of Thunder Bay 
River in exactly forty-five minutes. As the sailors threw 
out the line, a tall, slender man with a bald head and a 
bushy beard stepped forth and waved his hat. 

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Woods! How are you, Ma- 
jor?" he called. Then as the yacht came gently up to the 
pier, he jumped aboard and came forward. 

"I'm glad to see you looking so well, and delighted to 



dJ, lake hukun and the 

have your company for a few days. I'm only sorry Mrs. 
Powell can't join us. How you have grown, Carrie! 
I'd hardly know you. How are you, James? It seems 
to me you've grown a little, too. He does look the image 
of his father, doesn't he?'' he added, turning again to 
Ala j or Woods. 

''Yes, he grows more like him every day, we think." 

"Now, Major, did you want to stop here at Alpena, 
or are you ready to go on to Collingwood ?" 

"We're perfectly ready to go on, only you'll have to 
agree to tell these youngsters something about Alpena, 
to make up for-it. They are out for fun, but they don't 
seem to mind picking up a little information, when they 
can be sure it's reliable." 

"All right. I'll see what I can do. Captain Adams, 
as soon as you get those boxes aboard, you may start. 
Now, do come and sit down and tell me all about your- 
selves." 

ACROSS THE LAKE 

Major and Mrs. Woods and Mr. Powell went back to 
the stern and sat under the awning, while James and 
Carrie staid with Captain Adams at the bow. When they 
came opposite the big red buoy, he showed them that it 
was throwing out a red light. 

"What makes the light?" asked Carrie. 

"Its body is full of compressed gas, which is released 
just as it is on a railroad car. Didn't you ever wonder 
how a Pullman got its light?'' 

"I don't think I ever did. Somehow a sleeping-car 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 53 

seems just like a house. But of course they have to carry 
the gas with them some way." 

Soon after passing the red buoy the 'Tamarack' began 
to cut, across the path of vessels bound to or from the 
St. Clair River. As they sighted one vessel after an- 
other, Captain Adams would tell them that it was a cargo 
boat belonging to such and such a line. 

"Uut how can you tell what line it belongs to?'' asked 
Carrie. 

"IJy looking at its smokestack. Don't you see that 
those two vessels close together over there have different 
kinds of bands on their stacks? If it were night, and 
there were need for it, each line would have its own set 
of colored lights to burn as a signal." 

"Oh, there's a big passenger boat!" said James. 

"Yes, that's the 'Pickerel' of the Fishing Line. Don't 
\ou see those three green bars on the stack?'' 

"Well !" said Carrie. "I see how you can tell what 
line she belongs to, by looking at the stack. E>ut how do 
you know she's the 'Pickerel'? We're too far away to 
make out her name." 

"For one thing, she's the only boat of that line with 
only one stack. For another, I happen to know that she 
is bound up the lake today." 

Just then, the steward called them to dinner, and by 
the time they were through they had crossed the track 
of other vessels and were plowing through the smooth 
water without a light visible in any direction. 

"Oh, Jim !" cried Carrie, ''we're out of sight of land 
aizain. Isn't it fun !" 



54 LAKE HURON AND THE 

"True, Carrie,'' said Major Woods, who had just 
come forward, "but as long as we can't see anything, sup- 
pose we go down and get Mr. Powell to tell us a little 
about Alpena." 

"Alpena?" said Mr. Powell, a few minutes later. 
"Well, Alpena is not very old. Twenty-five years ago it 
was just a big lumber camp, noisy, and mussy, and pic- 
turesque. Then the sawmills came, and the town grew 
like a mushroom for a little while. By and by, however, 
the lumbermen worked back into the interior, and there 
were only the sawmills left. The town has grown a lit- 
tle, and it is young yet. We have a splendid harbor, and 
just as fast as the country back of Alpena gets more 
thickly settled, the town will grow, too. So far, Alpena 
hasn't developed any other industry as big as its lumber 
interests. Saginaw has, you know, but Saginaw is more 
than fifty years older than Alpena, and I don't expect 
Alpena always to be that far behind." 

"Well, well, children," said Major Woods, when they 
had discussed the lumber business at some length, "I 
think we had better turn in. If we don't we shan't wake 
up in time for breakfast, and that would be too^ bad." 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 



Trace on a map the streams which unite to form the Saginaw 
River. 

How many counties are in the Saginaw valley? How many 
miles long is it, from north to south? How many miles wide is 
it? About how many square miles are in it? 

Trace on a map the journey from Saginaw to Alpena; from 
Alpena to CoUingwood. How many miles are there in each 
stage of the journey? How many altogether? What is the dis- 
tance by water from Port Huron to CoUingwood? 

Where is Not ta wa sa' ga Bay? 

Spell, pronounce, and explain : 

(These words are from Chapter Two) 

interrupted appropriate traffic 

government comfortable moderate 

ranges direction ingenious 

precipitates impurities evaporator 

centrifugal automatically hydraulic 

uneventful breakwaters bowsprit 

buoy illustrations repetition 

commodities parallel watershed 

(These words are from Chapter Three) 



convenient 

malice 

sufficient 

transportation 

dependent 

essential 

statistics 

injurious 



reputation 

immigrants 

accessible 

distribution 

utilized 

million 

occupation 

scarcity 



confirmed 

navigable 

inexhaustible 

tract 

economize 

billion 

phosphorus 

picturesque 



HURONS ./AT) IROQUOIS 



*' N o w, children," 
said Major Woods, as 
the yacht left Colling- 
wood and turned north, 
"I brought you over 
here for two reasons. 
One of them is that the 
mere beauty of these 
thirty thousand islands 
is worth traveling far 
to see. The other is 
that along this stretch 
of country between 
Collingwood and Kil- 
larney the French mis- 
sionaries made their 

earliest efforts to Christianize the Indians. You have 
already heard a little about the missionaries. You re- 
member, don't you, about the one who was tortured to 
death by the Mohawks?" 

"Father Jogues !" exclaimed Carrie, "of course we 
remember about him — poor man !" 

"Well, we shall hear of him over here, too, along 
with a host of others. In fact, the story of the French 
missionaries is one of the most interesting and inspiring- 
chapters in the history of North America. The ex- 
plorers, Champlain, La Salle, Tonty, Joliet, and others, 




Father Tkan de Kkebeu 



5S> LAKE HURON AND THE 

have their part, too, but all in all it is hardly so glorious 
as that of the missionaries. — " 

"How about Marquette, Uncle?'' asked James. 

"Marquette was both missionary and explorer, like 
some of his fellows. For instance, Father Joseph le 
Caron, who went with Champlain up the Ottawa in 1615, 
traveled in a different canoe, and because his Indians 
made better time than Champlain's, Caron reached Lake 
Huron a week or two before Champlain. Do you re- 
member how it was that Champlain discovered Lake 
Huron before he did Lake Ontario?" 

''Yes, sir," answered James, ''it was because the Iro- 
quois were at war with the Hurons, with whom Cham- 
plain was traveling, and so they took him up the Ottawa 
instead of the St. Lawrence." 

"Exactly. Now, the Hurons, as it happened, were 
a relatively peaceful nation, and in many ways responded 
more readily to the efforts of the missionaries than al- 
most any other Indians. The Iroquois, on the contrary, 
were a nation of fighters, and sent their bands of war- 
riors on raids that covered almost all of the country east 
of the Mississippi. They even attacked the Illinois, and 
it is difficult to estimate the number of tribes that they 
either drove from their old homes or exterminated en- 
tirely, as they did the Fries. 

"Once in a long while, however, the Iroquois were 
paid in their own coin. Assikinack, an Ottawa chief, 
who lived in the first half of the nineteenth century, told 
a legend handed down from father to son for many 
generations, of how the Iroquois used to come north to 



COUNTRV ol' IFII-: AI.GONOUINS 59 

the Blue Mountains, which are not far from the Not- 
tawasaga River — do you know where that is?" 

"Well," answered James, reflectively, ''we're on Not- 
tawasaga Bay, so the river ought to flow into it." 

"Yes, it runs in west of Collingwood. Now, Sahgi- 
mah, who was chief of the Ottawas who lived on Grand 
Manitoulin Island and on the Saugeen peninsula — you 
remember we came around the end of that into Owen 
Sound — once found a band of a hundred or more Iro- 
quois warriors camping on the high ground overlooking 
the bay not so very far from where we are now. Sahgi- 
mah spied upon their camp and found them feasting 
and dancing, as careless of danger as if they were in 
the midst of their 'Long House' instead of in the heart 
of the enemies' country. At length, tired of dancing, 
and sleepy after having stuffed themselves with moose- 
meat, the Iroquois all fell asleep without leaving even 
one sentinel. Then Sahgimah crept into their camp and 
carefully took away all their weapons — war-clubs, and 
tomahawks, and scalping-knives. At midnight the Ot- 
tawa warriors, who had surrounded the camp of the 
sleeping Iroquois, raised their terrible warwhoop and 
slaughtered all but a few of the party. 

"I forgot to tell you that each of the Iroquois war- 
riors had a 'property pole' on which hung a buckskin bag 
containing his pemmican and his private baggage — his 
knapsack, in short. The victorious Ottawas cut off the 
heads of the slain Iroquois and fixed each head on its 
owner's property pole, with the face toward the lake. 
Then Sahgimah loaded a canoe with provisions, and put- 



60 LAKE HURON AND THE 

ting into it the few captives he had spared, ordered 
them to go back to their Long House and tell their peo- 
ple that Sahgimah kept watch on the Blue Mountains, 
and would put on a pole the head of everv Iroquois who 
dared intrude." 

"Did the Iroquois come back?" asked James. 

"Assikinack didn't say, but I suspect that they did, 
for the Iroquois never would own that they were beaten, 
and I have come upon no instance in which another 
tribe made any permanent stand against them. 

"But suppose you look at a map — the one in that 
steamship folder will do — and let's see how the ex- 
plorers and missionaries came to this part of the world. 
Follow the Ottawa River up to Lake Nipissing and then 
down French River to the Georgian Bay. What is the 
general direction?" 

"Why," answered James, "it is almost due west." 

"Champlain and Father le Caron reached the Bay in 
August, 1615, and then went south nearly a hundred 
miles to the Huron villages. Less than fifteen years 
later, that is, in 1628, Father Gabriel Sagard came up 
to the Georgian Bay and labored among the Indians. 
Six years after, in the summer of 1634, Fathers Bre- 
beuf and Daniel made the same toilsome journey up the 
Ottawa — Father Brebeuf counted thirty-five portages — 
and established a mission among the Hurons on the 
shores of 'Lake Iroquois,' as the French then called the 
Georgian Bay. 

''That same summer, Jean Nicolet, an interpreter, 
under orders from Champlain, pushed on west from the 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 61 

mouth of French River. He went through the North 
Channel between Grand ManitouHn Island and the main- 
land to the Sault Sainte Marie, that is, the Falls or 
Rapids of St. Mary, where the waters of Lake Superior 
flow into Lake Huron. It seems likely that, close as he 
was to Lake Superior, he did not go above the rapids, 
but went down the river, followed the shore of Lake 
Huron south to Mackinac, and through the Straits into 
Lake Michigan. From the Straits he followed the west 
shore of Lake Michigan into Green Bay. We'll hear 
more of Nicolet when we get over into Green Bay next 
week. 

*'You see, therefore, that the hostility between the 
Iroquois and their neighbors on the north explains why 
the French got as far west as the Sault and Lake Michi- 
gan before they ever saw Lake Erie. Of course, too, 
they were following the Indian trade routes, and when 
we get farther north we'll find that the development of 
the Canadian Northwest is again calling attention to the 
shortness and directness of the trails which were fol- 
lowed in the early days by the fur traders, and then were 
almost forgotten." 

THE CHRISTIAN ISLANDS 

Just then the 'Tamarack' turned to the right between 
a headland and a group of islands. 

"What islands are those?" asked Carrie, turning to 
Captain Adams, who had come forward while the Major 
was talking. 

"Those are the Christian Islands," answered Captain 



62 LAKE HURON AND THE 

Adams, "though I don't know how they got their 
name/' 

*'Oh, I remember," said Major Woods. ''In 1649 the 
Iroquois attacked the Huron villages around in Wauba- 
shene Bay, not far from Midland. Father Paul Rague- 
neau had a flourishing mission at old Fort Sainte Marie 
on the Wye. Earlier in the year the Iroquois had sent 
war parties over into the Huron country east of here, and 
had destroyed a number of villages and killed the mis- 
sionaries. In June the news was brought that the Iro- 
quois, determined to make a clean sweep of their foes, 
were coming to Sainte Marie. Father Ragueneau, who 
was in charge, saw no way to save his converts but by 
flight. So, while some of the warriors prepared to fight 
off the Iroquois as long as possible, the rest, with the 
women and children, hastily gathered up the most valu- 
able of their belongings, and loaded all the canoes they 
had. After many trials and much suffering the most of 
them reached these islands, twenty miles from Fort 
Sainte Marie, and were for a time at least safe from 
the pursuing Iroquois. Here they built another church, 
and in time the islands took their name from the Chris- 
tian Indians who had taken refuge on them." 

"Did the Iroquois hate these Indians because they 
were Christians?" asked Carrie. 

"Not especially. Of course, they taunted them with 
their change of faith, but their chief ground for hatred 
was that the Hurons were the friends of the French who 
had helped them in their wars against the Iroquois." 

"Where did the Hurons live. Uncle?" asked Carrie. 
"All around Lake Huron?" 



COUNTRY or TIIK ALGONQUINS 63 

"No, only between the Georgian Bay and Lake Erie. 
The Iro(iuois finally ruined them as a nation, and drove 
their remnants westward. West and north of the 
Hurons lived the Algonqnins. The Ottawas and the 
Chippewas (or Ojibways, for the tribe had both names) 
were tribes of the Algonquins. The Ottawas lived 
along- the upper part of the Ottawa River, on the Sau- 
geen Peninsula, and along both sides of the North Chan- 
nel. The Chippewas lived around the Sault Sainte 
Marie, and down around Mackinac, where their de- 
scendants still live." 

While the Major was talking the 'Tamarack' rounded 
the headland and turned into Waubashene or Sturgeon 
Bay. 

"Mr. Powell," said Major Woods, "can't you stop 
for an hour at Penetang?'' 

"Certainly. I was going on to Midland, but Penetang 
will do just as well." And he went forward to give the 
pilot the necessary orders. 

"Penetang?" said Carrie. "That's a queer name." 

"It is Indian," answ^ered her uncle. "The full form 
is Penetanguishene, which means 'shining sands.' I 
think you'll find it appropriate." 

"What are we going to see here. Uncle Jack?" asked 
James. 

"Nothing very important. The British had a post 
here during the War of 1812, and we can still see the 
([uartcrs that some of the officers lived in then. In spite 
of the fact that the white men came into this region 
nearly three hundred years ago, there is very little of 



64 



LAKE HLRUN AND THE 



their handiwork that is now visible. Even the precise 
locations of the old French missions, Ossossane, St. Ig- 
nace, St. Louis, and the rest, have not been absolutely 
fixed in all cases." 

"Why is that, Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"Partly because the Iroquois made such a clean 




r)FFitEKs' Quarters, 1812. neak I'kmi.W'. 

sweep, and partly because the missionaries followed the 
Indian custom and built of wood. Over on the Christian 
Islands part of the buildings were of stone, so that there 
is no trouble in finding their exact site. 

"It's rather interesting that the oldest reminder of 
the presence of the palefaces in this part of the world 
is not a building, but a metal instrument hardly as bulky 



COCNTKV Ol" 111 I". .\l.(;()NoriNS ()0 

as an alarniclock — an astrolabe, which Champlain lost 
on his way up the Ottawa River, and which some one 
picked up not very many years ago." 

"What's an astrolabe?" asked James. "I never heard 
that word before." 

"It is an instrument which people used in those da\s 
to take observations of the stars, in order to determine 
the latitude of a place. Not very long- after Chami)lain's 
time, the astrolabe was replaced by cpiadrants and sex- 
tants, which are both simpler and more accurate in their 
results. 

"Well, here we are. \Ve'll be ])ack inside of an hour, 
Captain Adams. All we want is to get a little exercise 
and see the village.'' 

Within an hour or two after leaving Penetang, the 
"Tamarack' was in a narrow channel surrounded by is- 
lands of all shapes and sizes. After a while Carrie 
asked : 

"Thirty thousand islands, Uncle Jack? Are there 
really that many ?" 

"Yes, more than that many. Of course, man\' of 
them, as you see, are very small, but real islands never- 
theless. One of the British government's surveyors re- 
ported many years ago that he had actually counted 
47,500. In some places along the east coast here, the 
islands extend ten miles from the shore, and the channels 
between them are so intricate and confusing that it is 
almost impossible to know positively when you have 
reached the mainland. As you can see, even from here, 
some of the channels are verv narrow and winding:. 



66 LAKE HURON AND THE 

THE APOSTLE OF THE HURONS 

**But before we get too far from the Huron coun- 
try, I must tell you a little more about the French mis- 
sionaries. You can look at the scenery and listen at the 
same time, I think. By the way, have you any idea how 
far east we are? Did you realize that we are almost due 
north of Buffalo?" 

"Almost due north of Buffalo !" said James. "Why, 
I hadn't any idea we had come so far east!" 

"Well, if you'll look on the map, you'll see that I'm 
right. Now, let's get back to the missionaries. France 
sent out a great many, but of them all Father Jean de 
Brebeuf, the 'Apostle of the Hurons,' was one of the 
most striking figures. He came of a wealthy Norman 
family of Bayeux. Did you ever hear of Bayeux?" 

"I don't remember," said Carrie. 

"Oh, yes," said James, "isn't Bayeux the place where 
Matilda, the Queen of William the Conqueror, embroid- 
ered the story of the Norman Conquest of England on 
a tapestry? We had that in our history last year." 

"Yes, that's right. Well, Father Brebeuf was a splen- 
did big man physically, very tall, and broad and stron"^ 
in proportion. He was so big that when, in 1626, he 
wanted to go from Quebec to the country of the Hurons, 
the Indians at first refused to take him into their canoes 
for fear he would swamp them. But he finally persuaded 
them, and made the journey safely. 

"On this first trip he staid long enough to learn the 
language, and was then recalled to France. While he 



COrXTKV OF Till-: ALCONOriNS 67 

was at Rouen he met I^'atlier Jogues, and his stories 
of the opportunities for service — and very likely for mar- 
tyrdom — in the wilderness led heather Jogues to ask to 
be sent out too. In 1634, Father Rrebeuf was back 
again among his Hurons who received him joyfully and 
built a bark house for him, which was divided into a 
chapel, a living-room, and a storehouse. Among other 
things, Father Brebeuf had a striking clock which fas- 
cinated the Indians. They called it 'the captain,' and 
would ask what it said." 

''What did it say, Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"When it struck twelve, it said 'Hang on the kettle'; 
when it struck four, it said 'Get up and go home.' Fa- 
ther Rrebeuf also had a prism, a magnet, and a mag- 
nifying glass, and the Indians never grew tired of mar- 
veling at them and experimenting with them. 

"After a time, however, the Indians suffered from a 
terrible scourge of smallpox. Naturally, their medicine 
men blamed the missionaries for this new terror, and 
many of the Indians w^ished to kill the palefaces. It 
happened that it was a custom among the Hurons for 
those who were about to suffer death to give a farewell 
feast. So the missionaries invited the Indians in and 
gave them a feast with all the ceremony and lavishness 
that they could manage in the wilderness, but their calm- 
ness and fearlessness so surprised and pleased the 
Hurons that thereafter the missionaries w^ere perfectly 
safe among them. 

"For a number of years the mission to the Hurons 
thrived wonderfully, until there were a dozen or more 



68 LAKE HURON AND THE 

stations, each with its chapel and attendant father or' 
fathers. But in 1648 the hostile Iroquois made a sud- 
den raid on one of the missions, destroyed it, and killed 
Father Daniel, who was in charge. The next year, in 
March, the Iroquois came again, and attacked the vil- 
lage of St. Ignace — over toward Lake Simcoe from here. 
Only three of its four hundred inhabitants escaped to 
St. Louis, another mission three miles away. Father 
Brebeuf and Father Gabriel Lallemant, a young man, 
were stationed at St. Louis, and though urged to flee, 
would not leave their post. About eighty warriors out 
of the seven hundred Hurons at the mission decided to 
stay and try to protect the missionaries, but the others 
fled. The Iroquois were easily victorious, and took cap- 
tive the two missionaries and a few of the Hurons. 
Then they proceeded to torture Father Brebeuf and 
Father Lallemant. The details of their sufferings are 
too terrible to give. After four hours Father Brebeuf 
was freed from his agonies by death, but Father Lalle- 
mant endured for seventeen hours, although he was a 
frail man, who would not have been expected to bear 
so much as the gigantic Father Brebeuf." 

"What a terrible fate!" said Mrs. Woods. 'Tf the 
other Frenchmen had been like the missionaries, things 
might have turned out differently." 

"True, but one trouble with the French voyageurs 
and conreiirs des hois — who were more numerous than 
the settlers, and who had the most intimate relations with 
the Indians — was that they adapted themselves to the 
ways of the Indians, not in order to help the Indians, as 



COUNTRY OF Tllli Al-GONQUINS 69 

the missionaries did, but for their own selfish gain. They 
wanted furs, and because hquor would buy more furs 
than anything else, they rarely hesitated to give it to the 
Indians. In the end, as more than one historian has 
pointed out, these men, so picturesque in many ways, 
and admirable for their courage, hardiness, and cheerful- 
ness, instead of elevating the Indians to a little higher 
stage of civilization, fell back themselves to the Indians' 
level and became decivilized." 

"What's the difference between zoyageurs and cou- 
reurs des bois, Uncle Jack?" asked Carrie. 

"The coiircurs dcs bois — literally 'runners of the 
woods' — were the trappers and hunters. The zoyageurs 
were the men whose chief business it w^as to take the 
canoes and supplies of the traders back and forth be- 
tween the St. Lawrence and the frontier posts. Often, 
of course, their occupations overlapped, and a boatman 
would turn to trapping, or a trapper to boating. They 
did the hard work of the wilderness, and their descend- 
ants are still doing it, trapping for the fur comi)anies, 
or working in the logging camps. 

"Well, well, some of this scenery is beginning to look 
familiar. Lucy, you haven't forgotten the fun you and 
my brother Charles and I had up in here a dozen years 
ago, have you?" 

"Indeed, I haven't ! I remember that you acted like 
two boys, and rode on a creaky old merrygoround at 
French River as long as you had any change left." 

"Mr. Powell, said Major Woods, "is Captain Adams 
going to stop at Byng Inlet ?" 



70 LAKE HURON AND THE 

"Yes, and we'll be there inside of half an hour." 

"I suppose we'll have time to take a stroll up the 
main street?" 

"Yes, you'll have time for that, but be careful not to 
get too far away from the center of things." 

"Why, see !" said James, "the pier is a big granite 
rock that goes straight down into the water !" 

"Oh, Jim!" said Carrie, "did you ever see anything 
just like it? We're walking on a sawdust street between 
solid rock walls, with the houses on top of the walls ! 
Just look at the ladders the people have to climb to get 
up to their front doors. Isn't it interesting ! Who live 
in these houses, Uncle?" 

"Just the workmen in the big sawmill here. You see 
they had to do something with the sawdust, and so they 
just began to fill up this little canyon here." 

"But what did Mr. Powell mean about not getting 
too far away from the main street?" asked Carrie. ''I 
don't see any side streets." 

"That's just what he meant, my dear. There aren't 
any. You have seen the whole village." 

A FOREST PLAGUE 

When they came back to the 'Tamarack' they found 
Mrs. Woods and Mr. Powell seated on the forward deck, 
fighting mosquitoes. 

"My ! but these mosquitoes are pests !" said Mrs. 
Woods, as she waved a cluster of lighted joss-sticks. 
"Where do they all come from?" 

"Well," answered the Major, "the mosquitoes seem 



COUNTRY Ol- TIIK ALGONOllNS 71 

U) have been the original inhabitants. At any rate, Fa- 
ther Gabriel Sagard, who came here in 1628, found them 
vigorous and active. He devoted a whole page to them 
in his 'History of Canada,' and his remarks show that he 
spoke from experience. Shall 1 read them to you ? 1 
have the book right here.'' 

"Please do," said Mrs. Woods. "I'll be glad to hear 
what some other sufferer thought about them." 

"Here goes, then. Father Sagard, of course, wrote 
in French, but it isn't very hard to turn into English. 
He says that These little pests are not always present, 
however; they appear only in the hottest weather and 
when there is no wind, otherwise no one could endure 
their incessant vicious bitings, which make one's body 
look like a leper's, ugly and hideous to all who behold it. 

" 'I cannot express myself fully, since, for myself, I 
confess that it is the sincerest martyrdom I have suf- 
fered in this region ; hunger and thirst, weariness and 
fever, are nothing in comparison. These little beasts 
not only make war upon you in the daytime, but even at 
night they get into your eyes, and into your mouth ; 
they get through your clothes and pierce with their long 
stings even the clothing next your skin. Their buzzing 
is also extremely annoying, for it distracts your atten- 
tion, keeps you from praying, from reading, from writ- 
ing, from performing your tasks with any repose; they 
])enetrate everywhere, especially into rooms where there 
is no breeze, which often obliges us to burn incense, the 
smuke of which quiets them for a time — but thev always 
come back fiercer than before.' 



72 LAKE HLJkON AND THE 

"Doesn't that sound as if he were describing from 
actual experience?" 

"Indeed it does/' said Mr. Powell. "But we are go- 
ing- to start in a minute, and perhaps the breeze will 
strike us when we get out into the channel again." 

"(3f course, we'll make French River all right, but 
shall we reach Killarney tonight, Mr. Powell?" asked 
Major Woods, as the 'Tamarack' turned into an open 
channel and made speed enough to leave the mosquitoes 
behind. 

"Hardly, I think. We'll be eating dinner while we 
are at French River, and will go as far as we can before 
dark. Then we'll tie up in the lee of an island until day- 
break. I think we'll make Killarney before breakfast 
time, though." 

NOTES AXD QUnSTIOXS 

Note that the Blue ^Mountains mentioned in this chapter are 
not those of the Alleshany Range. 

On a map of Northern France find Rouen (roo' o) and 
Bayeux (by yuh'). 

Find on the map Owen Sound. Collingwood. the Christian 
Islands, Penetang, Midland, Fake Simcoe. Byng Inlet. French 
River and Killarney. 

Spme of the proper names in this chapter arc i)r()nounced as 
follows : 

Saugeen (saw geen') O jib' ways Ragueneau (ra gen o') 

Jean de Brebeuf (zhon' de bra buff') Nicolet( nik o la') 

Sault Sainte Marie (soo' sant ma' ry) Sagard (sag ar') 

Coureurs des bois is pronounced kdo rur' da bwa' ; I'oyagenrs 

is pronounced vwoy a jur'. 



AT KILLARNEV 



The next morning James and 
Carrie were awakened by Major 
Woods pounding on their doors 
and calling- to them, 

"Hurry up, if you want to 
see the 'Tamarack' come into 
Killarney." 

When they reached the deck, 
Mrs. Woods and the two men 
were standing in front of the 
pilot house, and the yacht was 
just rounding the point. 

''Good morning!" said Car- 
rie, "I didn't know I had slept 
so Tate. Have you had your 
breakfast already?" 

"Oh dear, no," answered the Major, as he pulled out 
his watch. "Do you see what time it is?" 

"Only half past five!" 

"Only half past five!" echoed James. 

"Still," said Mr. Powell, laughing, "1 suppose you 
could eat some breakfast now, couldn't you?" 

"Yes, sir, I could. Some hot coffee would taste 
mighty good, for Tm really shivery." 

"Well, here you are, then," he answered, as the 
steward came forward with a steaming urn. "We'll 
have a cup now, and the rest of our meal in a few min- 




/4 LAKE IIIROX AND TIIK 

utes — unless you want to go ashore for breakfast. Eh, 
Major?" 

**Xo, thank you," answered Major Woods. "We are 
perfectly satisfied with what we get on board. There's 
the Killarney House, though. I wonder if Angus Mac- 
donald still runs it?" 




Killarney Channil 

'That's an odd combination," said Mr. Powell, ''a 
Scotchman keeping a hotel with an Irish name." 

"Yes, that's one reason why I remember it. But 
there are others. For one thing, when Mrs. Woods and 
my younger brother and I were up here a good many 
years ago, I met a Syrian who had been educated at 
Beirut, and I found he had studied under a man who 
was a college mate of mine down in Illinois. Meetings 
of that sort are not uncommon, I know, but it seemed 
strange to find a Syrian up in this out-of-the-way corner 
of the world. 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 75 

"Another thinj^- tliat I remember vividly is that, be- 
cause Angus Macdonald 'had more guests than he could 
properly care for, we nearly starved. At last my brother 
Charles heard vaguely that there was a farmhouse back 
in the country a mile or so, where they took boarders 
and might give us a meal. So we set out on the chance, 
and after following a road through the swamp came to a 
neatly whitewashed one-story farmhouse under the trees 
some distance back from the road. When we asked if 
we might get dinner, they took us in cordially, and they 
gave us a meal that I remember yet, it was so good. 
Lucy, do you remember the name of those people?" 

"It was French, wasn't it? Something that began 
with 'De la'?" 

"Oh, yes, I have it now — Delamorandiere, though 
they pronounced it 'Delamorandery.' " 

The steward came just then to summon them to 
breakfast, and before they were through, the 'Tamarack' 
was speeding westward. 

"In a couple of hours," said Mr. Powell, "we'll be 
fairly into the North Channel, and then we'll see how 
fast the 'Tamarack' can go." 

"Doubtless she is faster than the canoes of the zox- 
ageurs," said Major Woods. "It seems odd, doesn't it, 
that this lonesome stretch of water was a chief highway 
three hundred years ago. But there's a chance, I think, 
that it may regain something of its old importance. The 
Canadians seem determined to have a ship canal by way 
of the French River, Lake Nipissing, and the Ottawa. 
If they do, this will be a busy place in the summer." 



/6 LAKE HURON AND THE 

"Why only in the summertime, Uncle Jack?" asked 
Carrie. 

**Have you forgotten that everything freezes up solid 
here from December to April?" 

"How broad the North Channel is!" said James, when 
they had all gathered on deck again after breakfast. 
"On the map it doesn't look so broad, but now we are 
on it, it is miles across. But how deserted it is ! Over 
on the Detroit River the boats were so thick it seemed 
like a procession, but here we haven't seen a boat of any 
kind since we left Killarney." 

''There's a sail right now, Jim!" said Carrie, as they 
came opposite a deep bay in the northern shore. 

"Probably a lumber schooner," said Mr. Powell, as 
he focussed his glasses on it. "Yes, if you look through 
these, Carrie, you can see the deckload." 

"Oh, I see!" she answered, "and I can make out her 
name, too — 'Charlevoix.' " 

.-^A' INDIAN LEGEND 

An hour or so later, the 'Tamarack' met an excur- 
sion steamer bound for Collingwood. After it had 
passed, the children went to the stern and watched the 
gulls. At last they came back, and Carrie asked for an 
Indian story. 

"Well, children," said Major Woods, "the Indians 
tell one story connected with Grand Manitoulin Island 
that probably is based on fact, but has had supernatural 
details added to it, either to supplement their incomplete 
knowledge of the facts, or to satisfy their craving for 



loixrm (»i- III I". .\i.<;()N()riN's 



n 



the marvelous. It was lold to me by an Indian wIkj was 
once my guide on a trip into the wilderness north of 
where we are now. We had finished a hard porta;2:e and 
were camped in the edge of the forest on a tiny sand- 
hank at the edge of a narrow, noisy little river. There 




AIakim; a r<)i.TAi;:; 

was no moon, and we half sat, half reclined with our feet 
to the fire, and were having a last smoke before we 
wrapped our blankets around us and fell asleep. My 
guide was a vigorous, active man, who did not look more 
than fifty, though he assured me he was nearly seventy. 
The storv, he said, had been told him — as is ':he custom 



/6 LAKE II L RON AND THE 

among the Indians — by his grandfather, when the grand- 
father was very old and the guide still a boy. I can't 
tell it as he did, but the story runs something like this: 

''Once a party of Ottawas, who had won a great vic- 
tory over the Winnebagoes of Wisconsin, had just re- 
turned to their village on Grand Manitoulin Island, 
bringing with them numerous scalps and a few prisoners. 
It was in the dead of winter, and the whole village, feel- 
ing perfectly secure from attack, gave itself up to a 
grand celebration. Suddenly, as if they had dropped 
down from the skies, a war-party of Iroquois swooped 
down upon the village with wild yells and waving toma- 
hawks. They killed or captured all but two young 
people, a brave and his sweetheart, who had drawn a 
little aside from the rest in order to carry on their court- 
ship unobserved. These two managed to escape, and 
with their snowshoes reversed so as to hide their trail, 
made their way westward across Cockburn and Drum- 
mond Islands, and then over the frozen lake to Mackinac 
Island. There they settled in a secluded part of the 
island, and in the course of years there grew up around 
their campfire a family of ten boys. 

"One winter, however, the whole family disappeared, 
simply vanished, and left no trace. Of course, it is prob- 
able that they fled farther west to escape some enemy, 
or were lost on the lake, or something of that sort. But the 
Indians, because they could find no sign of any of the fam- 
ily, concluded that they had been turned into spirits, and 
to this day (so my old guide told me, as the fire burned 
low, and the wind in the treetops and the river rippling 



a Cell 



roUNTKV OF TIIK Al.CONOriNS 7^ 

inst the l)oul(lers in its bed made queer little noises) 
there are Indians who have seen the old couple and their 
len lusty boys wanderino- mournfully about Mackinac 
Island in the dead of winter. When I pressed him for 
instances, he said he had never seen them himself, but 
he was sure he had heard them, and some of his friends 
declared they had caught glimpses of them through the 

trees." 

"Why, that's a regular ghost story, isn't it?" said 

lames. 

"Ves, Indian folklore has its share. I suppose there 
always have been ghost stories told around the camp- 
fires in every corner of the earth, and it will be a great 
many generations before they cease to be told and be- 
lieved." 

GARDEN RIVER 

About the middle of the afternoon they passed a 
beautiful stretch of country, which Mr. Powell told them 
was Garden River. 

''Garden River! Wliat an attractive name!" said 
Mrs. Woods. ''And what a pretty scene!" 

. "Do you w^onder that the Indians come here to act 
scenes from 'Hiawatha'?" asked Major Woods. 

"Do they really, Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"They have been doing so for a number of years. 
How much of 'Hiawatha' have you read, Carrie?" 

"Every word of it, Uncle Jack. But was Hiawatha 
a real person? I thought Longfellow made up most of 
the story." 



80 



.\KK 11 I RON AM) TliK 



"Oh, dear, no. Don't you remember, for instance, 
where he tells about how the women blessed the corn- 
fields? Well, the Iroquois did that when the first white 
men saw^ them, and they may do it yet, for all I know. 
Longfellow actually invented very little of his poem ; 
all he did was to arrange and turn into verse some of the 
Indian legends he had found." 




EXTKANCE TO WiLSON ChANNKL 

*'But, Uncle, you haven't told us whether Hiawatha 
was a real person or not," said James. 

''Probably he was, but he lived so long ago that his 
real history has been forgotten, and we have instead a 
nass of legends, many of which make him out a super- 
natural being. According to the story told by an old 
Iroquois sachem, Hiawatha was a historic person, who 
founded the confederation of the Five Nations not far 
from the time when Jacques Cartier first sailed up the 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 81 

St. Lawrence — that is, in the first half of the sixteenth 
century. As this Indian told the tale, Hiawatha was the 
one who first named the tribes. For instance, he called 
the Senecas and the Mohawks the 'doorkeepers' of the 
'Long House' of the Iroquois. He also gave to each clan 
its totem of bear, wolf, turtle, and so forth, and made 
laws for the confederation. 

''Hiawatha is undoubtedly an Iroquois name, but the 
scene of the poem, according to Longfellow himself, 'is 
among the Ojibways on the southern shore of Lake 
Superior, in the region between the Pictured Rocks and 
the Grand Sable.' And both the character which Long- 
fellow gives to Hiawatha, and the incidents he relates 
of him, fit the Ojibway hero rather than the Iroquois. 

"Now, among the Ojibways, or Chippewas — for both 
names apply to the same tribe — the person who does the 
things Longfellow ascribes to Hiawatha is called Mana- 
bozo or Nanabozho, and he is represented as a being 
gifted with supernatural powers, somewhat inclined to 
be mischievous, but as a rule goodnatured and helpful." 

"Have you ever seen the Indians give their play, 
Uncle Jack?" asked Carrie. 

"Yes, one summer when I was stationed at Mackinac, 
I came up here especially to see it. Mr. L. O. Arm- 
strong, who induced the Indians to give it, and who 
arranged the scenes for them, used to spend his summers 
on an island here, and asked me to come over. The play 
was very effective, with this wonderful background of 
lake and islands." 

"Were all the characters in it?" 



82 LAKE HURON AND THE 

''Nearly all of them. The part of Hiawatha was 
played by a splendid big Indian, handsome and dignified, 
who not only looked the part, but acted it impressively* 
That summer the woman who played the part of Minne- 
haha was his wife, a really handsome young squaw. I 
remember, too, old Nokomis, a brown, wrinkled, but 
active woman of fifty, with keen black eyes, full of 
humor. Altogether, as I remember, there were about 
forty people in the play. The most effective scene was 
at the end, where Hiawatha, after greeting and enter- 
taining the Black Robes and the other pale-faces, stepped 
into his canoe and paddled slowly off, singing as he dis- 
appeared around the end of the island : 

'Mahnoo ne-nah nin-ga-ma-jah, 
Mahnoo ne-nah nin-ga-ma-jah; 
Hiawatha, ne. nin-ga-de-jah, 
Mahnoo ne-nah nin-ga-ma-jali necn. 
Hiawatha, neen, nin-ga-de-jah.' 

''You remember how Longfellow tells it: 

'And the evening sun descending 
Set the clonds on fire with redness. 
Burned the broad sky. like a prairie, 
T.eft upon the level water 
One long track and trail of splendor, 
Down whose stream, as down a river, 
Westward, westward Hiawatha 
Sailed into the fiery sunset, 
Sailed into the purple vapors. 
Sailed into the dusk of evening.' " 

"But, Uncle Jack," said Carrie, "what does that 
'Mahnoo ne-nah,' that Hiawatha sang, mean?" 

"I'm sure I don't know. The poet makes him say : 



corxTRv ()!■ ini'. aiconcjiins 83 

'I am going, O my people, 

()n a long and distant journey; 

Man> moons and many winters 

Will have come, and will have vanished, 

Kre I come again to see you. 

But my guests I leave behind me ; 

Listen to their words of wisdom, 

Listen to the truth they tell you, 

For the Master of Life has sent them 

Vrnm the land of light and morning !' " 

"It must have been beautiful," said Carrie, and she 
(|iu)!ed, half to herself, 

" 'Thus departed Hiawatha, 

Hiawatha the Beloved. 

In the glory of the sunset, 

In the purple mists of evening. 

To the regions of the home-wind. 

Of the Northwest- Wind. Keewaydin. 

To the Islands of the Blessed. 

To the Kingdom of Ponemah, 

To the Land of the Hereafter!'" 

HOIV THE OJIBWAYS CAME TO THE SCO 

"Did Longfellow put all the Ojibway legends into 
'Hiawatha,' Uncle Jack?" asked James, after a pause. 

''Oh. no, only a few of them. I heard a number of 
others from a very old Indian who lived on an island 
in the Soo Rapids. He was so dried and bent and wrin- 
kled that he looked old enough to have seen Hiawatha 
hitiiself. The island he lived on was only a great jumble 
of huge sandstone rocks, and he told me that they had 



84 J.AKI-: 111 RON AND TliK 

been thrown there in one of the combats between 
Jiiawatha and Paupnkkeew^is." 

"Tell us some more of them, Uncle, please," said 
Carrie. 

''Didn't I ever tell you how the Ojibways came to 
settle around the Soo here? No? Well, it seems, so 
this old man told me, that at first the Ojibways, like 
other good Indians, lived in heaven. But the Great 
Spirit once let a pair of them fly down to earth in the 
shape of crows. These two crowds flew through the whole 
world, looking for the best place to settle. One place 
looked attractive to them because there w^ere great herds 
of buffalo, so they killed a buffalo, and broiled some 
steaks and ate them. But the taste of the flesh told 
them that these animals would finally disappear, so they 
went on, and came to a place where there were many 
bears, cinnamon bears and grizzlies. They killed a bear, 
but when they tasted his meat, they found that the bears, 
like the buffalo, would some day all be killed, so they 
traveled on. 

'Thus they went about, tasting the flesh of deer, and 
elk, and caribou, and moose, and beaver, and seal, but 
finding always from the taste of the flesh that these ani- 
mals were all doomed to disappear. At last, after many 
wanderings they came to the Soo, and in the rapids they 
saw many fine fish, perch, and pickerel, and muskallonge, 
and trout, and whitefish. So they caught a whitefish, 
baked him in the coals, and ate him. It was a delicious 
meal, and besides, the taste told them that the supply of 
fish would never fail. Here, then, was the place for 



COUNTRY oi' Till*: Ai.c.oNoriNS 8j 

them to live, so they alighted upon the ground, and as 
their feet touched the earth their forms suddenly changed 
and instead of being crows they became human beings. 
And that is how the Ojibways happened to settle along 
the straits here where three great lakes come together." 

"Oh, that's fine, Uncle," said Carrie. "I think that's 
even better than the one you told us in the Mohawk \ al- 
ley about the Wolf tribe that King Joseph T.ranl be- 
longed to." 

THE LOCKS AT THE SCO 

l^-om Garden River the steamer passed through Lit- 
tle Lake (leorge and by a devious channel to Sault Ste. 
Marie. 

"Lncle Jack," asked Carrie, "who was the first white 
man at the Soo ? Vou told us, I think, but Lve forgot- 
ten." 

"Jean Nicolet, so far as we know, in the summer of 
1634. In September, 1641, Fathers Jogues and Raym- 
bault came out to the Soo and established a mission — 
the first one west of the Georgian Bay." 

"Oh !" cried James, "see that Indian right out in the 
rapids! \Miat is he doing? Is he trying to get up the 
river?" 

Major Woods took a long look and answered : 

"Xo, he is fishing. There used to be lots of them 
who did their fishing that way. They catch the fish as 
they come up against the current. But now most of the 
Indians make their living in the summer by taking white 
men down through the rapids. It is about the most ex- 
citing- form of 'shooting- the chutes.' " 



86 LAKE HURON AND THE 

Here our party left the ''Tamarack," and after say- 
ing goodbye to Mr. Powell and Captain Adams, went 
to look around before taking one of the big steamers to 
Mackinac. As they started ofif. Major Woods said : 

"While we are on the Canadian side we may as well 
take a look at the first lock built here. The Hudson Bay 
Company built it in 1798 to get their vessels through. You 
see," he continued, as they stood looking at it, "it wasn't 
very big, for it is only thirty-eight feet long, and less 
than ten feet wide — jjust about large enough to take a 
pair of the big canoes they used in those days. 

*Tt looks very small alongside of this new lock here, 
doesn't it? This one, which was finished in 1895, almost 
a hundred years later, is 900 feet long and sixty feet 
wide. The bulk of the commerce on the river goes 
through the American locks, however, because thus far 
the south shore of Lake Superior has had the greatest 
development. The great copper mines, and the huge 
iron ranges are on the Michigan side of Lake Superior, 
and Duluth and Superior, at the head of the lake, have 
been ports through which the wheat crops of the Ameri- 
can Northwest have found their way to market. 

"Now let's take the ferry and see what we can see on 
the American side. The first locks over here were built 
by the state of Michigan. There were two of them, end 
to end, each one 350 by seventy feet. They were finished 
in 1855, but the traffic increased so rapidly, and the lake 
boats were made so much larger that in 1870 the United 
States government began this lock to the west, which is 
named the Weitzel lock, after the engineer who was in 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 87 

charge of its construction. It took eleven years to finish 
it, and then in 1887, only six years later, the two old 
locks were torn out and the Poe lock built in their place. 
Now, they are talking of building still bigger ones in 
order to take bigger boats and handle them more rapidly. 

*'The Soo is like the Detroit River in the enormous 
tonnage. that passes through it, for in the eight or nine 
months in which it is open more tons of cargo pass 
through it than go through the Suez Canal or into Lon- 
don or Liverpool in twelve months." 

"Then, Uncle," said James, ''why isn't there a big 
city here, as there is at Detroit?" 

"Because, so far, commerce merely passes by here on 
its way from one point to another. It doesn't have to be 
transferred here, as it does at Buffalo, and the region 
close at hand has not yet developed either mineral de- 
posits or farming, so that there is only a small population 
to use this as a distributing point. If the time ever 
comes when both shores of Lake Superior are as thickly 
settled as the south shore of Lake Erie is now, then 
Sault Sainte Marie will be a very important place. An- 
other thing which ought in time to make this a business 
center is the water-power. The river drops about twenty 
feet in less than a mile, and on both sides of the river 
there are already canals and turbines. But thus far the 
chief use of this power has been in the pulp mills." 

"Pulp mills," echoed Carrie, "what are they?" 

"They are mills where they turn spruce logs into wood 
pulp, and then make the pulp into paper. They do this 
in two ways. One is by grinding up the logs, resin and 



88 



LAKI-: II rUOX AND THR 



all. The other way, which is more expensive for it does 
not produce as much pulp from a cord of wood as the 
i^rindini^ does, makes a better quality of paper. This 
second method dissolves the resin by calcium sulphite, 
which is made from limestone, water, and sulphurous 
acid. The sulphur comes from Sudbury, where it is 
saved as a by-product from the smoke of the nickel 




The Locks at the Soo 

smelters. Our newspapers are all printed on pai)er made 
from w^ood pulp. 

"The spruce trees are cut u]) into four-foot lo,:;s, and 
these logs are made into a raft which is held together 
b\' a boom made of logs fastened end to end. Then a tug- 
tows this raft to the mill. The tug can make only about 
two or three miles an hour, and because the raft is so 
biir and unwieldv — it sometimes covers two or three acres 



((iiNiin' oi- rill': ai.conoiins 89 

— the tugs are required to have a siren whistle so as to 
give passing vessels time to pick a safe course. 

"Now let's watch these boats go through the Poe lock, 
and then we'll have something to cat before we start for 
Mackinac." 

"Oh, what a funny boat !" said Carrie. 

"Don't you know what that is, C'arrie?" said James. 
"That's a whaleback." 

"Why do they build them that way, Uncle?'' asked 
Carrie. 

"The}- used to think that if they rounded the deck 
that way, the waves could wash over the boat without 
damage. P)Ut they have gone out of fashion, and the 
cargo boats they build now are like the ones you saw at 
Ashtabula and Lorain. 

"Well, well! I'm really getting hungry. Suppose we 
go back to the boat." 

"How far up is Lake Superior, Lncle?" asked James. 

"We'd have to go nearly twenty miles to get out into 
the open lake. We haven't time now, but perhaps next 
summer we'll come and make the tour of Superior and 
see the copper and iron mines which furnish so much of 
the tonnage that goes through the locks here." 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 



Sudbury is in Ontario, almost north of Killarney. 
Beirut (ba root') is in Syria, on the coast of the Mediter- 
ranean. Find it on a map. 

Trace on a map the journey from Killarney to the Soo, 
How far is it from Montreal to the mouth of the French 
River? From French River to the Soo? 

How far is it from Montreal to Detroit by way of French 
River? by way of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie? 

Some of the proper names in this chapter are pronounced as 
follows : 

Win ne ba' goes Cockburn (ko' burn) 

Hiawatha (he a wa' tha) Pau puk kee' wis 

Jacques Cartier (zhak' kar te a') No ko' mis 
Spell, pronounce, and explain : 
(These words are from Chapter Four) 
christianize missionaries relatively 

estimate exterminated sentinel 

slaughtered pemmican permanent 

hostility flourishing especially 

remnants handiwork visible 

astrolabe quadrant sextant 

intricate positively tapestry 

fascinated prism magnet 

victorious agonies gisrantic 

(These words are from Chapter Five) 
satisfied combination supernatural 

supplement incomplete marvelous 

unobserved reversed secluded 

glimpses folklore totem 

mischievous impressively caribou 



DOIVN ST. MARY'S RIVER 



the din- 
whistle 
call 
be- 
felt 




While they were at 
ner table the boat's 
sounded again and again to 
in the belated tourists, and 
fore they had finished they 
the throb of the screw as 
vessel slipped away from 
landing and started down 
river. James and Carrie hurried 
through their dessert and ran 
up to the deck to watch. By the 
time Major and Mrs. Woods 
joined them it was quite dark, 
and they could see only the bea- 
cons and the red and green 
lights of passing vessels. From time to time the steam- 
er's searchlight would throw a dazzling beam ahead, 
bringing out a double row of channel buoys, and then 
would abruptly disappear, leaving the darkness more 
intense than before. 

''Why do they have to mark a straight channel so 
carefully, Uncle Jack?" asked James. 

"Because we are on Hay Lake, which is sixteen or 
eighteen miles long and several miles wide. It is a shal- 
low lake, and the government has dredged out a channel 
through the middle of it. If it weren't carefully marked, 
vessels might stray out of it just far enough to run 
aground, and if a big cargo boat stuck its nose into the 



Blockhouse at Mackinac 



92 LA K I-: 111 k( ) N AND THE 

mud on one side of the channel, its stern might swing 
around enough to nearly block the passage. I have seen 
an accident of that sort in the height of the season tie up 
over a hundred vessels. To avoid such delays, the 
government has very strict rules about speed and courses, 
and a captain who is caught disobeying is heavily fined." 

"How can they tell whether they are going too fast 
or not, Uncle?" asked Carrie. 

"Didn't you notice that little launch that was puffing 
up and down among the vessels as w^e came up from 
Garden River? That was the boat of the officer in 
charge of the river. He watches the vessels, directs their 
movements, and prevents blockades." 

While Major Woods was talking, a fog swept up and 
the steamer at once slowed down and began to whistle 
hoarsely at regular intervals. 

"Well," said Major Woods, "we may as well go to 
bed. We shan't get to Mackinac until long after break- 
fast." 

MICHILIMACKIXAC 

The next morning the boat had just passed Detour as 
our party went down to breakfast. Not long after they 
came on deck again, someone pointed out the island to 
them — a dark blur on the horizon away in front of them, 
which rapidly grew more distinct. 

"Oh ! how beautiful !'' exclaimed Carrie, as the boat 
came near the uland. "So this is Mackinac ! And is 
this the fort that was captured by the Indians?" 

"No," answered Major Woods, "the I^rench felt too 



coiNTin' oi" nil': Ai.coNorixs 93 

isolated on the island. l*'atlier Mar(|uette and l^'atlicr 
Dablon were here for a year or so, but in 1671 I'^ather 
Marquette founded the mission of St. Ii^nace de Michili- 
mackinac over on the point of the northern peninsula, 
between Lake Huron and Lake Michij^an. Then when 
La Salle and Tonty came alonp^ on the 'Griffon' in 16/0, 
they built a stockade there, h^or some years after 1694 
Cadillac was in command of L\)rt Michilimackinac and 
was governor of the whole region hereabouts. In 1705 
the Jesuits withdrew to Quebec and burned their church 
at St. Ignace, but in 1715 the French again jnit a garri- 
son there. Then in 1728 they built a new fort on the 
southern peninsula across the Straits, near where Macki- 
naw City now is. It was this fort at ^Mackinaw that the 
Indians captured in 1763. 

"The fort on the island here wasn't begun until 
1779 or 1780. In the summer of 1780, Afajor Patrick 
Sinclair of the British army moved his force over here, 
though the fort wasn't completed until 1783. This fort, 
however, has seen some fighting, for the liritish captured 
it during the War of 1812 and successfully resisted an 
attempt of the Americans to take it back again. It is a 
very jMcturesque fort, as you see, but if you will look 
closely, you will also see that the hill back of it is a good 
deal higher. The British understood that, and by landing 
on the back of the island and getting control of the hill, 
compelled the Americans to surrender. Then thev for- 
tified the hill, so as to keep the Americans from repeating 
the same ex])loit b\- which the liritish won the island. 

"Well, here we are. \\'e'll ^o to the Astor, which is 



94 F.AKI-: III K()\ AND THE 

in part the old warehouse which the original John Jacob 
Astor had built for his fur traders. When we get set- 
tled, you children can run around and see the sights, and 
after dinner I'll tell you about the capture of the old fort 
over on the mainland." 

THE FIRST ENGLISH TRADER AT MACKINAC 

''What does 'Michilimackinac' mean, Uncle?'' asked 
Carrie, after dinner. 

"It means 'great turtle,' and if you have been up on 
top of the hill where you can see the whole island, you'll 
understand that it is an appropriate name, for it looks 
Very much like a huge turtle floating on the lake." 

"Why, so it does !" said Carrie. 

"Uncle Jack," said James, "you promised to tell us 
how the Indians captured the fort." 

"Fortunately," answered Major Woods, we have an 
account of it from an eye-witness, Alexander Henry, who 
was the first English trader to come to Mackinac. Inci- 
dentally, his account gives us some interesting details of 
how men traveled in those days. 

"You remember that the French surrendered Canada 
to the English in 1760. Mr. Henry obtained his license 
on August 3d, 1761, and the next dav started from 
Lachine by way of the Ottaw^a River. His canoes, he 
tells us, were thirty-three feet long and four and a half 
feet wide in the middle. They were made of birchbark 
a quarter of an inch thick, sewed with zvattap, that is, 
spruce rootlets, and pitched with pine gum. They were 
propelled by paddles, thou::jh sails were sometimes used, 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQl'INS 



95 



especially on the lake. Each boat carried a crew of eight 
men, a thousand pounds of provisions, and sixty pack- 
ages of freight weighing from ninety to a hundred 
pounds each. The freight was done up in small parcels 
l)ocause of the numerous portages on the way. Each 



HIHH^''^ 




■ 'w_. 


Bm 


^^ 


MmI 




ppp^ 


^^^^H 


■■ps^^.:^ 


h ^ 


B^H 


El 


^1 


^^^^^^.^^^^^^^^^^^H 



Arch Rock, Mackinac Island 

man was allowed forty pounds of baggage, so that the 
total burden in a canoe was four tons or more. There 
were usually a number of canoes in a party, and for 
every three or four canoes there was a guide, or squad- 
ron commander. 

"At the island of La Cloche, in Lake Huron, the 
Indians told Henry that the Mackinac Indians w^ould 
surely kill him because he was an Englishman and not a 
Frenchman. So Henry put on a suit of Canadian clothes, 
smeared his face with grease and dirt, and as soon as he 
reached Mackinac Island went on across the Straits to 



06 LAK1-: ill RON AND THE 

the fort, leavin*^- his assistant, a Canadian named Cam- 
pion, to act as pro])rietor. His attempt at a disguise did 
not deceive the Indians, however, and friends at Macki- 
naw urL^ed him to tlee at once to Detroit. Rut Henry 
was a dogged man, and since he had risked everything on 
his venture, .he refused to abandon his goods. 

INDLAN OR.ITORV 

"The ver}' next day after his arrival, about sixty 
Chippewas from the island came to visit him. They 
reached Mackinaw about two o'clock in the afternoon, 
and Henry reports that 'They w^alked in single file, each 
with his tomahawk in one hand and scalping-knife in the 
other. Their bodies were naked from the waist upward, 
except in a few examples, where blankets were thrown 
loosely over their shoulders. Their faces w^ere painted 
with charcoal, w^orked up with grease ; their bodies with 
white clay, in patterns of various fancies. Some had 
feathers thrust through their noses [for which reason 
the French called them Nez Perces, that is, 'pierced 
noses'], and their heads decorated with the same.' 

''After they had sat and smoked in silence for a long 
time, according to their custom, their chief arose and 
made the following speech, which I am going to read to 
Nou because it is a good example of Indian oratory : 

" 'Englishman, it is to you that I speak, and I de- 
mand your attention ! 

" 'Englishman, you know that the French King is 
our father. He promised to be such ; and we, in return, 
promised to be his children. This promise we have kept. 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 97 

" 'Englishman, it is you that have made war with this 
our father. You are his enemy ; and how, then, could 
you have the boldness to venture among us, his children ? 
You know that his enemies are ours. 

" 'Englishman, we are informed that our father, the 
King of Erance, is old and infirm ; and that being fa- 
tigued with making war upon your nation, he is fallen 
asleep. During his sleep you have taken advantage of 
him, and possessed yourself of Canada. But his nap is 
almost at an end. I think I hear him already stirring 
and inquiring for his children, the Indians ; and, when 
he does awake, what must become of you? He will 
destroy you utterly ! 

" 'Englishman, although you have conquered the 
French, you have not yet conquered us! We are not 
your slaves. These lakes, these woods and mountains, 
were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheri- 
tance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation 
supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live with- 
out bread — and pork — and beef ! But you ought to know' 
that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has pro- 
vided food for us, in these spacious lakes and on these 
woody mountains.' " 

"My!" said James, "that Indian knew how to talk 
straight out, didn't he!" 

"This speech," continued Major Woods, "shows us 
the feeling of the Indians toward both the English and 
the French, and it is important to note it, because it was 
by playing upon this feeling that Pontiac managed to 
induce so many tribes to enter his conspiracy. The 



98 



LAKE HURON AND THE 



French traders, of course, did not want to see the Eng- 
lish come in and take away their trade, and for a long 
time Pontiac believed that the French would help the 
Indians if they only made a 
good beginning. 

''Well, Henry answered the 
Chippewas diplomatically, and 
gave them some presents, includ- 
ing at their special request a 
small keg of rum — 'the white 
man's milk.' He decided not to 
try to trade with them for the 
present, but spent a year or more 
in learning the Chippewa lan- 
guage. He also made friends 
with the Indians, with one chief 
in particular, a man named 
Wawatam. 

"When Pontiac was bringing 
his conspiracy to a head in the 
spring of 1763, Major Ethering- 
ton, who was in command of the little garrison at Mich- 
ilimackinac, was definitely and positively informed of the 
plot to seize and destroy the garrison, but refused to be- 
lieve it. Henry, who could read the signs better, was 
suspicious and uneasy. Just before the time for the at- 
tack, Henry's friend Wawatam came to him and urged 
him to join him in a long trip. Unfortunately, Wawatam 
was pledged not to betray the plot, so he could not give 




SUGARLOAF RoCK, MaCKINAC 

Island 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 99 

Henry his real reason for wanting him to go, and Henry 
refused. As it turned out, it was fortunate for him that 
he did not go. 

THE FATAL BALL GAME 

"Henry reports that 'June 4th was the King's birth- 
day. The morning was sultry. A Chippewa came to tell 
me that his nation was going to play at baggatiway — 
lacrosse — with the Sacs, for a high wager. He invited 
me to witness the sport, adding that the commandant 
was to be there, and would be on the side of the Chip- 
pewas. In consequence of this information, I went to 
the commandant, and expostulated with him a little, rep- 
resenting that the Indians might possibly have some sin- 
ister end in view ; but the commandant only smiled at my 
suspicions. 

" The game of baggatiway was the most exciting 
sport in which the red man could engage. . . . [Here 
Henry describes the game at length.] . . . This game, 
with its attendant noise and violence, was well calculated 
to divert the attention of officers and men, and thus per- 
mit the Indians to take possession of the fort. To make 
their success more certain, they prevailed upon as many 
as they could to come out of the fort, while at the same 
time their squaws, wrapped in blankets, beneath which 
they concealed the murderous weapons, were placed in- 
side the enclosure. The plot was so ingeniously laid that 
no one suspected danger. The discipline of the garrison 
was relaxed, and the soldiers permitted to stroll about 
and view the sport, without weapons of defense. And 



100 LAKE HURON AND THE 

even when the ball, as if by chance, was lifted high in 
the air, to descend inside the pickets, and was followed 
by four hundred savages, all eager, all struggling, all 
shouting in the unrestrained pursuit of a rude athletic 
exercise, no alarm was felt until the shrill war-whoop 
told the startled garrison that the slaughter had actually 
begun.' 

''It happened that Henry did not go to see the game, 
as he was busy writing letters to go off to Montreal the 
next day. When he heard the war-cry, he went to the 
window and saw what was going on. In an effort to 
escape he went to the house of a Canadian, Langlade, and 
begged for shelter, but Langlade asked, in French, 'What 
would you have me do?' Fortunately, an Indian slave 
woman beckoned to Henry, sent him to the garret, locked 
the door and carried off the key. From a little window 
in the garret, Henry watched the end of the massacre, 
and then heard the Indians enter the house and ask for 
Englishmen. While the key to the garret was being 
found, Henry crawled under a pile of birchbark buckets, 
used for sugar-making. 

" 'The door was unlocked,' he tells us, 'and the In- 
dians ascending the stairs, before I had completely crept 
into a small opening which presented itself at one end 
of the heap. An instant later four Indians entered the 
room, all armed with tomahawks, and all besmeared with 
blood on every part of their bodies. . . . The Indians 
walked in every direction around the garret, and one of 
them approached me so closely that at a particular mo- 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 



101 



ment, had he put forth his hand he must have touched 
me.' 

"Although Henry escaped for the time, the Indians 
came back the next morning, said they had not found 
Henry's body among the slain, and therefore that he 




Blockhouse at Mackinac 

must be hidden. Langlade's wife, fearing for her chil- 
dren, insisted that Langlade give Henry up, for it was 
better that he should die than her children. One of the 
Indians,' Henry continues, 'Wenniway, whom I had pre- 
viously known, and who was upward of six feet in height, 
had his entire face and body covered with charcoal and 



102 LAKE HURON AND THE 

grease, only that a white spot of two inches in diameter 
encircled either eye. This man, walking up to me, seized 
me with one hand by the collar of the coat, while in the 
other he held a large carving-knife, as if to plunge it 
into my breast; his eyes, meanwhile, were fixed stead- 
fastly on mine. At length, after some seconds of the 
most anxious suspense, he dropped his arm, saying ''I 
won't kill you !' " 

''Wenniway left Henry at Langlade's until he could 
take him away without danger from other drunken In- 
dians. Within an hour, however, another one, w^ho hap- 
pened to be in debt to Henry, came for him. First the 
Indian made Henry take oflf his coat and shirt — in or- 
der, as Henry learned afterwards, that they might not 
be stained with blood when the Indian killed him. The 
Indian then led HJenry away from the settlement, but 
Henry resisted, and managing to free himself, ran to 
the fort, pursued by the Indian with his knife. At the 
fort the Indian chased Henry around Wenniway several 
times, but when Henry finally reached Langlade's house 
again, gave up his pursuit. 

"The next day, Henry's master, Wenniway, marched 
him to the beach, where three other prisoners and seven 
Indians embarked in a canoe for the Beaver Islands in 
the upper end of Lake Michigan. But a thick fog kept 
them to the Michigan shore, and at Fox Point — *a long 
point stretching westward into the lake, and which the 
Ottawas make a carrying place, to avoid going around it* 
— an Ottawa hailed them, and the canoe turned to the 
land. As soon as it was within reach a hundred men 



COUNTRY OF THE ALGONQUINS 103 

rushed from the bushes and dragged the prisoners 
ashore. 

''The new Indians explained that they were friendl}' 
Ottawas, and had rescued Henry and his fellows. Then 
the Ottaw^as took them back to Michilimackinac, and took 
possession of the fort. The next day in a general council 
the Chippewas protested, and on the second day, after 
several speeches, the Ottawas returned the prisoners to 
the Chippewas. Luckily for Henry, Wawatam soon ap- 
peared, and after much ceremony and giving of presents 
managed to have Henry surrendered to him. Then 
Wawatam took Henry off for a winter's hunt w-ith him 
and his family, and after many adventures Henry es- 
caped to Montreal." 



NOTES AND QUESTIONS 

How far is it by water direct from Detroit to Mackinac? How 
much farther has our party traveled? 

The name Nez Perces (na' pur sa') is now given to a more 
western tribe of Indians which used also to pierce the nose. 

Spell, pronounce, and explain : 

abruptly blockades horizon 

isolated exploit . proprietor 

inheritance diplomatically commandant 

calculated discipline unrestrained 

particular ceremony adventure 





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